r  owe 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


A  COLLECTION  OF  LETTERS  OF  THACKERAY, 
1847 — 1855.  With  numerous  Portraits  and  Repro- 
ductions of  Letters  and  Drawings.  Gilt  top, 
8vo,  $2.50 

The  same,   cheaper  edition,    lOmo,     .         .  1.25 


WITH    THACKERAY 
IN    AMERICA 


BY 


EYRE    CROWE,   A.R.A. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW   YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
1893 


Copyright,  1893,  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Co. 
Astor  Place,  New  York 


TR 


q 


THIS   BOOK 

DUE  TO  six  MONTHS'  CONSTANT  TRAVEL  WITH 
HER   FATHER 

8j  IS   WITH   HER   KIND   PERMISSION   DEDICATED  TO 

MRS.   RICHMOND   RITCHIE 

AS  A    TRIBUTE   OF    ADMIRATION    FOR    HER    INHERITED 

^  LITERARY   GIFTS   AND   FOR   THE   SAKE   OF 

J^  A    LIFE-LONG   FRIENDSHIP 

W  EYRE  CROWE 


Lamitm 
»oth  Ffhruary 


382994 


PREFACE 

ALL  readers  of  Thackeray  know  his  delightful 
imaginary  conversation-verses  between  "  The  Pen  and 
the  Album,"  written  before  his  travels  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  concluding  lines : — 

"  Stranger  !     I  never  writ  a  flattery, 
Nor  sign'd  the  page  that  register'd  a  lie." 

"The  faithful  old  Gold  Pen,"  to  which  he  assigns 
these  two  noble  qualifications  of  unswerving  truthful- 
ness, and  which  he  then  adds  had  served  him  already 
for  three  long  years  in  making  his  sketches,  was  part  of 
his  equipment  of  materials  taken  to  the  States.  When 
it  was  not  in  his  own  grasp  he  allowed  me  to  take 
it  up  for  my  sketching  lucubrations,  which  were  for 
the  most  part  executed  with  its  wondrously  flexible 
and  seemingly  indestructible  nib.  He  was  so  far 
pleased  with  my  efforts  that,  not  content  with  show- 
ing them  to  our  American  friends,  who  also  nodded 
approvingly  over  their  sometimes  grotesque  yet  faith- 
ful renderings  of  every-day  scenes  as  they  struck  a 


PREFACE 


newcomer's  fancy,  he  urged  me  to  make  a  selection 
from  them,  and  to  forward  them  to  London  for  publica- 
tion in  an  illustrated  periodical.  Whether  they  ever 
reached  their  destination  I  forgot  to  ascertain  on  my 
return.  This  neglect  on  my  part  I  now  lament,  as 
among  the  drawings  was  one  of  the  Washington 
House  of  Representatives,  with  a  portrayal  of  the 
different  members  sitting  at  their  semi-circularly- 
placed  desks,  fronting  the  Speaker's  Chair,  over  which 
soared  majestically  the  American  eagle.  This  loss 
must  be  my  apology  for  oniiiting  from  this  collection 
any  representation  of  the  holders  of  the  great  politi- 
cal helm  of  the  States.  Perhaps  the  chance  owner 
may  hereafter  let  me  know  of  its  whereabouts,  and 
in  case  of  future  editions,  if  any,  kindly  allow  me  to 
repair  the  gap. 

Whilst  contrasting  the  scenes  delineated  forty 
years  ago  with  subsequent  accounts  which  have 
reached  us  in  numberless  books  of  travel,  not  to 
mention  the  useful  successive  "Appleton  Guide" 
editions,  I  have  been  struck  with  the  appositeness 
of  Carlyle's  epithet  applied  to  progressive  Columbia, 
as  "the  never-resting  locomotive  country."  What 
was  then  fact  may  now  seem  to  border  on  fiction. 
But,  for  my  own  part,  I  trust  that  fhis  may  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  record  of  actual  life  imbued  with  the 
subtle  spirit  of  truth  flowing  from  "the  faithful  old 


PREFACE  ix 

Gold  Pen/'  and  not  belying  the  honest  character 
ascribed  to  it  by  the  owner. 

I  may  take  this  opportunity  of  here  thanking  my 
kind  friend  Mr.  Wemyss  Reid,  who  encouraged  me  to 
publish  these  sketches  and  their  accompanying  text. 

The  Illustrated  London  News  printed  a  very  few  of 
the  illustrations  in  the  old  familiar  wood-cut  manner, 
now  superseded  for  the  most  part  by  other  facsimile 
processes,  justifying  their  re-insertion  here.  House- 
hold Words  also  published  my  account  of  the  Vir- 
ginian slave  sale,  which  has  now  been  amplified  with 
incidents  there  omitted  for  the  sake  of  brevity. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAOE 

Esmond" — Lectures  at  Liverpool  and  Manchester— Savile  Morton- 
Voyage  across  the  Atlantic — Boston — Custom  House — Shandrydan 
— Tremont— A  Rapid  Repast— Bunkers  Hill— MM.  Prescott  and 
Ticknor— In  the  Cars— "  Thackeray's  Works" — Arrival  in  New 
York — Mr.  Bancroft — Spirit-Rapping — The  Rev.  Theodore  Parker 
and  Horace  Greelev  .  1 


CHAPTER   II 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Chapin's  Chapel— Lectures — Brooklyn— American  Art- 
Leah— Wall  Street— Ba mum — Genius— James  Harper  and  Apple- 
ton— G.  P.  R.  .Tames— Boston  Museum— William  Allston— "  Coast- 
ing"— Stuart's  Portrait  of  General  Washington— New  York  Once 
More — A  Claimant — Washington  Irving— T.  P.  Meagher— Sleighing 
— Governor's  Island — New  Jersey — Non-Abstainers  ....  45 


CHAPTER   III 

Philadelphia — A  Quaker's  Meeting— Negro  Disability— An  Historical 
Porch— W.  B.  Read— Washington — Lecture  on  "Humour  and 
Charity  "  at  New  York— Washington  and  Baltimore— Presidential 
Levee — The  Ericsson— The  Iron  Jackson — Congress  .  .  .101 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  IV 

PAGE 

Richmond,  Va.— A  Slave  Sale— Houdon's  Statue  of  Washington- 
Petersburg,  Va.— Charleston— An  Empty  Valise— Savannah— New 
York  Once  More 125 

CHAPTER  V 

New  York  to  Albany— The  Senate— Lecturing— New  York— "Lucy's 
Birthday  "—Farewell  to  the  States— The  Europa— Liverpool- 
Paris—  Champs  Elysees  and  the  Latin  Quarter 168 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Thackeray  Lecturing  in  New  York  ....  Frontispiece 

The  Emblem  of  Office 1 

On  Board  the  Canada 14 

The  Captain  taking  an  Observation 15 

Officer  taking  an  Observation          .......  16 

A  Passenger 1<» 

The  Deep  Sea  Lead 17 

Our  Conveyance       ..........19 

Young  America 22 

"'tfmMand  Tribune" 22 

The"  Poet  Bunn" 23 

Madame  Sontag        .                 25 

On  the  Commercial  Wharf,  Boston 27 

At  the  "Treuiont" 28 

Boston  from  Bunker's  Hill 20 

William  Hickling  Prescott 30 

George  Ticknor .        .  31 

Expectaroons 32 

A  Splashy  Bed 33 

"Thackeray's  Works,  Sir  !" 34 

A  Group  of  Children 36 

In  the  Accommodation  Train 37 

Mr.  Bancroft 38 

Mr.  Bancroft's  Lecture 39 

Table-Turning 40 

The  Rev.  Theodore  Parker  at  the  Tabernacle,  New  York        .         .  41 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Horace  Greelcy 

Tailpiece • 

The  Rev.  H.  Bellows 45 

President  Fillmore  .... 

New  York,  from  Brooklyn       ....  .50 

Black  Coachmen ....  52 

Lafarge  Hotel .53 

The  Brushing  Process 54 

The  Broadway 55 

The  Broadway  Omnibus 56 

Seal-Tiger,  So-called 57 

Barnum's  Museum   ..........  58 

Barnum 59 

Barnum's  Agent GO 

Drinks 61 

Johni  N.  Geniu's  Hat  Store 62 

Taking  your  Measure 64 

The  Result 64 

At  Harpers' 66 

G.  W.  Curtis 68 

A  Pair  of  Bluchers 69 

At  the  Melodeon,  Boston 71 

Custom  House,  Boston 72 

From  "Belshazzar's  Feast" 73 

"Coasting"      ...........  75 

At  the  Boston  Sessions     .........  76 

A  Glimpse  of  'Change 77 

Wall  Street,  New  York 78 

An  Advertisement    ..........  79 

Closing  Time    ...........  80 

A  Jeweller's  Sign      ...........  81 

A  Dock  Loafer 81 

The  Rev.  Eleazar  Williams 83 

Washington  Irving  .......                            .         .  84 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xv 

PAOB 

The  Refreshment  Room  ........  35 

Thomas  Francis  Meagher gg 

Sleigh  Stages 88>  89 

The  Tombs  Prison   ..........  90 

An  Execution  Morning  outside  the  Tombs 91 

Oorernor's  Island     .........  93 

Volunteers'  March 95 

Clinton  Hall    .                 96 

After  the  Fire,  New  York 97 

Canvas-back  Ducks.         .........  98 

News  Room,  Philadelphia 99 

Meeting  of  Friends,  Philadelphia 101 

Quakers 103 

An  Unpleasant  Incident  .........  104 

Baltimore 100 

A  Notice  of  Death 107 

The  Declaration  of  Independence 109 

A  Black  Servant .113 

Bust  of  Washington 114 

A  Presidential  Reception 115 

Presidents  Pierce  and  Fill  more 117 

General  CUM 118 

The  Supreme  Court  in  Session          .         .         .         .         .         .         .119 

General  Scott 121 

A  Stump 123 

Restoratives 124 

Testing  Tobacco,  Virginia        .         . 127 

Richmond 129 

In  the  Richmond  Slave  Market 132 

An  Old  Stove 137 

After  Houdon's  Washington 138 

An  American  Barber's,  Richmond,  Va.    .                  .         .         .         .  139 

Easter  Monday,  Petersburg,  Va 142 

On  the  Banks  of  the  Appomattox,  Petersburg,  Va.  143 


xvj  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Oil  Board  the  Governor  Dudley 144 

A  Guard 145 

A  Negro  Ball,  Charleston,  Ca 147 

Dressed  for  the  Ball 148 

At  the  Charleston  Hotel 149 

Negro  Faces 151 

The  Charleston  Slave  Market 153 

St.  Michael's  Church,  Charleston 154 

Negro  Types 155 

Charleston 156 

"  Cotton  is  King  "  ..........  157 

Shopping  at  Charleston 158 

Market  Women 159 

At  the  "Clarendon,"  Xe\v  York 160 

The  Chinese  Divinity  Student 162 

Broadway  Fashions.         .........  163 

Bonaventura,  near  Savannah    ........  164 

A  Peanut  Seller 165 

A  New  York  Congregation      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .166 

The  Senate,  Albany 169 

Pierre  Soul6 •  .  .171 

"Four  Bells" 172 

Cape  Clear       .........  176 


WITH    THACKERAY 
IN    AMERICA 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


CHAPTER  I 

"  Esmond  "—Lectures  at  Liverpool  and  Manchester — Savile  Morton — 
Voyage  across  the  Atlantic — Boston — Custom  House — Shandry- 
dan— Tremont— A  Rapid  Repast— Bunker's  Hill— MM.  Prescott 
and  Ticknor — In  the  Cars — "Thackeray's  Works" — Arrival  in 
New  York — Mr.  Bancroft — Spirit-Rappiug — The  Rev.  Theodore 
Parker  and  Horace  Greeley. 

"  Six  months'  tumbling  about  the  world  will  do  you 
no  harm,'7  was  the  inducing  phrase  which  Thackeray 
used  when  he  kindly  asked  me  to  accompany  him 
as  his  factotum  and  amanuensis  on  his  forthcoming 
journeyings  in  the  United  States.  When  he  noticed 
my  hesitation  as  to  acceptance  of  the  post,  arising 
in  a  great  measure  from  my  doubts  as  to  my  having 
l  1 


2  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

the  proper  capacity — or  "  spryness,"  as  he  expressed  it 
— for  organising  and  arranging  the  business  part  of 
the  lecturing,  he  pointed  out  that  another  half-year 
would  elapse  before  his  departure,  and  that  I  could  try 
my  'prentice-hand,  first,  during  these  mouths,  in  the 
same  capacity.  'Twas  thus  I  found  myself  installed 
in  doing  secretarial  work  at  his  pleasant  Kensingtonian 
home  in  Young  Street.  The  emblem  of  office,  a 
knowing-looking  green  dispatch-box,  of  which  the 
outer  leather  case  bore  many  traces  of  long  and  honour- 
able use  in  Continental  travel,  was  presented  to  me  by 
the  owner,  then  possessor  of  a  more  splendid  desk.  I 
retain  it  now — not  only  as  a  valued  memento  and  gift 
of  the  owner,  but  as  reminding  me  of  the  many 
pleasant  epistolary,  documentary,  and  sketching 
fragments  it  contained  during  my  subsequent  stay 
in  America.  A  selection  of  these  sketches  has  been 
made,  upon  which  the  following  text  may  be  taken 
as  merely  a  running  commentary. 

Two  scraps  of  paper  lying  for  two-score  years  dor- 
mant in  this  receptacle,  in  pocket-books,  will  serve  to 
show  the  sort  of  mingled  preoccupations  engaging  the 
author  at  that  time,  and  will  illustrate  the  easy 
duties  involved  in  secretaryship.  The  first  is  a 
memorandum  directing  me  to  make  inquiries  at  the 
British  Museum. 

When     my     new     indoctrination     as    amanuensis 


A   SCRAP  OF  PAPER  3 

began,  the  first  portion  of  "  Esmond  "  was  completed, 
written  upon  small  slips  of  note-paper  kept  in  the  firm 
grip  of  an  elastic  band.  They  were  not  written,  as 
was  the  case  with  the  calligraphy  of  his  great  proto- 
type the  novel-writer  Balzac,  in  crabbed  handwriting, 
bristling  with  after-thought  emendations,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  in  the  beautiful  penmanship  so  well  known, 
and  of  which  the  annexed  slip  is  another  example, 


and  with  scarcely  any  interpolations  or  marginal 
repentirs.  The  person  who  stated  that  all  the  writing 
of  "  Esmond  "  MS.  was  dictated  was,  therefore,  to  that 
extent  inexact.  The  passage  to  which  the  note  refers 


4  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

is  in  the  second  book  of  "Esmond,"  and  contained, 
I  think,  in  about  the  fifteenth  chapter.  I  went  to 
the  great  and  unique  source  of  all  English  trustworthy 
information,  the  British  Museum,  and  I  asked  for  the 
Gazettes  as  printed  in  1708  by  the  great  Jacob 
Tonson,  in  Gray's  Inn  Gate,  and  I  ferreted  out  the 
items  to  be  incorporated  in  the  narrative.  But  this 
last  became  so  complex,  as  the  author  went  on  with 
his  story,  that  he  had  to  trust  not  alone  to  vicarious 
excerpts,  but  used  to  charter  a  cab  and  to  come  along 
with  me  to  the  British  Museum.  An  appeal  to  an 
obliging  attendant  brought  us  through  the  non-public 
portion  of  the  Library,  where,  I  remember,  on  his 
touching  a  hidden  spring  in  what  seemed  to  be 
beautifully  bound  folios,  but  which  were  in  reality 
only  the  sham  backs  of  these,  a  door  flew  open,  and 
we  were  in  the  presence  of  Sir  Antonio  Panizzi, 
whose  life  Mr.  Fagan  has  so  pleasantly  unfolded  in 
after-years.  He  readily  granted  permission  to  write 
in  one  of  the  secluded  galleries,  at  a  table  placed  in 
the  midst  of  the  volumes  to  be  consulted.  I  sat  down 
and  wrote  to  dictation  the  scathing  sentences  about 
the  great  Marlborough,  the  denouncing  of  Cadogau, 
etc.,  etc.  As  a  curious  instance  of  literary  contagion, 
it  may  be  here  stated  that  I  got  quite  bitten  with  the 
expressed  anger  at  their  misdeeds  against  General 
Webb,  Thackeray's  kinsman  and  ancestor ;  and  that  I 


"ESMOND"   FINISHED  5 

then  looked  upoii  Secretary  Cardonnel's  conduct 
with  perfect  loathing.  I  was  quite  delighted  to 
find  his  meannesses  justly  pilloried  in  "  Esmond's " 
pages. 

It  was  not  without  peculiar  piquancy  that  this  was 
done  upon  the  site  of  old  Montague  House  and  its 
gardens,  famous  in  those  Queen  Anne  days ;  as 
'"  Prue,"  Steele's  wife,  exclaimed :  "  This  is  where 
you  wretches  go  and  fight  duels."  To  save  ears 
polite,  the  irascible  expletive  applied  to  Cardonnel, 
printed  in  full  in  the  first  edition,  was  mitigated  to  the 
more  presentable  "  d d  "  form  in  after-issues. 

Equally  complaisant  were  the  secretary  and  com- 
mittee of  the  Athenaeum  Club,  where  the  same 
method  of  dictation  was  pursued  in  one  of  the  side 
rooms  off  the  large  library  there.  I  do  not  recollect 
that  these  utterances,  not  at  all  delivered  sotto  voce, 
disturbed  the  equanimity  of  either  Church,  law,  or 
science  dignitaries  frequenting  that  luxuriously 
seated  library. 

A  red-letter  day  was  Saturday,  May  28th, 
when  Thackeray  was  able  to  write  the  word  "  End," 
thus  concluding  the  "  History  of  Esmond."  It  was,  I 
recollect,  on  a  pleasant  balmy  day,  and  the  work  had 
proceeded  in  accordance  with  that  atmosphere  to  its 
close.  A  friendly  pally  had  been  invited  to  dinner, 
and  he  expressed  a  wish  that  I  should  join  the 


Q  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

circle.  The  temptation  was  great — with  the  prospect 
of  drinking  a  bumper  to  success.  My  habiliments, 
however,  were  not  of  the  festive,  but  of  the  workaday 
sort,  and  I  could  not  readily  get  another  suit;  so  I 
lost  the  chance  of  celebrating  the  event  in  proper 
trim. 

The  visit  to  America  then  came  uppermost. 

A  week  before  this  date,  as  may  be  seen  from 
the  following  letter  addressed  by  Thackeray  to 
Mr.  Felt,  the  formal  proposal  had  reached  London. 

13,  Young  Street,  Kensington. 

May  2lst,  1852. 
SIR,- 

His  Excellency  the  American  Minister  [The  Hon.  Abbott 
Lawrence,  Min.  Plen.]  has  forwarded  to  me  your  kind  letter  and 
proposal,  for  which  I  return  my  best  thanks  to  the  directors  of  the 
Mercantile  Library  at  New  York. 

My  wish  is  to  deliver  in  that  city  and  elsewhere  in  the  United 
States  the  six  lectures  [on  the  English  humorous  writers  of  Queen 
Anne's  reign]  that  have  been  received  with  great  favour  in  this 
country.  I  have  no  agent  in  America,  and  purposed  to  enter  into  no 
arrangements  until  I  arrived  myself  at  New  York  or  Boston,  and 
could  determine  personally  what  would  be  the  best  course  to  pursue. 

If,  as  your  kind  letter  suggests,  arrangements  could  be  made  by 
which  I  could  deliver  my  lectures  in  several  cities  of  the  Union,  and 
proposals  to  that  effect  were  made  to  me,  I  should  very  thankfully 
entertain  them — premising  always  that  no  objection  would  be  made 
to  my  giving  lectures  to  other  public  societies,  and  at  such  charges  as 
my  friends  at  New  York  and  elsewhere  might  think  advisable. 

MILLARD  L.  FELT,  ESQ.,  Etc.     Etc. 

Corresponding  Secretary,  Mercantile  Library. 


THE  "FIELDIXG"  7 

This  was  the  beginning  of  a  somewhat  lengthened 
correspondence.  The  Boston  author  and  publisher 
Mr.  Fields  had  already  made  suggestions  as  to 
lecturing  there.  Questions  of  priority  soon  cropped 
up,  ultimately  left  for  final  solution  till  the  arrival  in 
the  States. 

The  summer  months  glided  by,  chiefly  employed 
in  revising  the  **  Esmond "  proof-sheets,  a  slower 
process  than  is  usually  the  case,  owing  to  a  compara- 
tively small  supply  of  the  not-much-used  type  of  the 
reign  of  Queen  Anne,  which  was  one  of  the  features 
of  the  first  edition. 

A  new  club  had  at  this  time  sprung  into  life,  called 
by  Thackeray  the  "  Fielding,"  which  met  in  Henri- 
etta Street,  Covent  Garden.  His  contribution  to  its 
comfort  was  an  illustrated  screen,  print-covered  for 
the  most  part,  but  made  more  valuable  by  the  addi- 
tion of  two  of  his  own  gold-pen-and-ink  studies.  The 
subjects  were  two  street  Arabs  caught  in  the  law's 
meshes.  The  first  was  in  the  grip  of  a  Bow  Street 
runner  of  Fielding's  time ;  in  the  next  a  tattered  son 
of  St.  Giles  was  being  "  run  in  "  by  the  modern  Bobby, 
who  hauls  him  l>efore  the  Beak,  with  a  view  to  his 
improvement  in  a  reformatory. 

Mi's.  Ritchie  has,  in  her  pleasant  "Chapters  from 
some  Unwritten  Memoirs,"  told  her  numerous  readers 
of  her  father's  genuine  relish  of  Carlyle's  "enchanting 


8  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

screen,"  to  which  lie  had  also  contributed.  And, 
years  ago,  I  recollect  his  amused  scanning  of  the 
motley  prints  upon  the  paravent  of  the  "  Trafalgar " 
at  Greenwich— before  the  advent  of  "souchet"  and 
whitebait — to  which  he  had  invited  us.  But  as  the 
"  Trafalgar  "  has  closed  its  doors,  so  has  the  once  hos- 
pitable Fielding  Club — to  which  I  recollect  also  being 
invited  as  a  guest — made  way  for  more  modern  brick- 
work. Many  guests  have  vanished  thence.  I  wonder 
where  these  pleasant  screen-appurtenances  have  gone 
to? 

I  often  have  wished  for  the  stenographic  power, 
which  enables  many  chroniclers  to  give  the  charm  of 
the  random  talk  of  gifted  men.  Far  pleasanter  are 
these  rapid  utterances  than  the  more  poised  sentences 
of  public  speaking.  In  this  latter  vein  is  on  record 
the  speech  made  at  the  "  Freemasons'  Tavern "  this 
year  by  Thackeray  as  he  presided  at  the  Literary  Fund 
Dinner. 

At  the  end  of  September  we  went  down  to  Liver- 
pool, celebrating  the  inauguration  of  the  lecturing  tour 
by  testing  the  famous  "  clear  turtle  "  of  the  "  Adelphi " 
there,  ere  we  went  into  more  homely  quarters  during 
our  fortnight's  stay.  A  veil  is  drawn  here  over 
this  "  memorial  of  gormandising,"  which,  in  truth,  was 
sober  enough. 

The  twin  courses  of  lectures  given  in  the  two  first 


A  PRELIMINARY  LECTURING   TOUR  9 

October  weeks  were  thus  dove-tailed  as  to  time  and 
delivery— 

MANCHESTER  LIVERPOOL 

Tuttdayt.  Thundny*.  Wednesday s.  Friday  ». 

28th  Sept.  30tli  Sept.  29th  Sept.  1st  Oct. 


5th  Oct.  7th  Oct. 

12th  "  14th  " 


6th  Oct.  8tli 

13th  "  15th 


This  arrangement  necessitated  see-sawing  by  train  from 
one  place  to  the  other. 

There  was  a  curious  contrast  in  the  initial  recep- 
tion of  the  lectures  in  these  Lancashire  centres,  the 
rooms  of  the  Manchester  Athenaeum  being  well  filled, 
but  at  the  Liverpool  Philharmonic  Hall,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  audience  was  so  small  as  to  call  forth  from 
one  signing  himself  "  Dickey  Sam  "  (in  the  Liverpool 
Mercury  of  October  1st)  the  statement  "that  a  more 
heart-depressing  sight  than  that  which  presented  itself 
to  Mr.  Thackeray,  I  think  I  have  never  witnessed,  to 
hear  the  Fielding  of  the  nineteenth  century."  The 
subsequent  lectures,  however,  made  amends;  and  the 
whole  course,  in  both  places,  went  off  with  great 
eclat 

At  Liveq>ool  cheery  lodgings  in  Renshaw  Street, 
over  Parry's  Library,  were  found  for  us;  and  free 
use  was  made  of  its  stock  of  books — the  Public 
Library,  which  only  opened  a  few  days  after 


10  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

we  left,  being  then  unavailable  —  Steele's  Letters 
and  Bozzy's  Life  of  Johnson  coming  in  for  re- 
perusal  as  old  friends  and  ever-fresh  companions. 
I  only  recollect  that  here  Thackeray,  in  the  inter- 
val of  awaiting  the  lecture  hour  in  the  little  side  room 
of  the  Philharmonic,  either  translated  or  amended 
his  version  of  Berauger's  beautiful  lines  in  "  Ma 
Vocation" — 

"Jet6  sur  cette  boule, 
Laid,  ch6tif,  et  souffrant,"  etc. 

I  forget  whether,  as  first  given  in  his  Goldsmith 
lecture,  the  lines  were  read  in  French  or  not. 

During  his  stay  at  Liverpool  occurred  a  tragical 
event,  which  happened  on  the  4th,  but  which  was 
only  reported  the  next  day,  the  5th  of  October.  On 
opening  a  paper  Thackeray  read  a  brief  telegram 
announcing  that  his  friend  Savile  Morton,  the  Paris 
correspondent  of  the  Daily  News,  had  been  stabbed— 
dying  of  his  wounds — by  a  brother-journalist,  seized 
with  a  fit  of  frenzied  rage  against  him.  It  caused  a 
great  shock  of  surprise  to  us  both,  whose  friend  he 
had  been.  Thackeray  mournfully  recapitulated  his 
many  charming  qualities;  his  artistic  early  educa- 
tion, merged,  like  his  own,  into  more  bread- winning 
literature ;  and  finally  alluded  to  his  many  Bohemian 
adventures,  summing  up  his  life  as  having  been 


A   DAMPER  n 

"one    scrape."     His  loss  was   much  felt   by   the   staff 
of  the  paper  he  had  served  so  faithfully. 

In  lounging  through  the  gay  streets,  thronged  with 
an  interesting  population  of  seafarers  and  others, 
I  recollect  Thackeray's  gaze  being  riveted  for  some 
time  looking  into  a  printshop  at  a  likeness  of  another 
lost  friend,  late  the  chief  magistrate  of  Liverpool, 
Edward  Rushton.  The  print  recalled  old  days  of 
boon-companionship  and  Reform  Club  foregather- 
ings ;  and  so,  with  a  regretful  **  How  like  it  is  ! "  we 
passed  on.  Unpleasant  sensations,  it  is  said,  seldom 
come  singly ;  so  it  turned  out  now.  On  seeking  a 
resting-place  for  weary  limbs,  we  turned  into  the 
literary  institution  called  the  Athenanim,  where 
English  and  American  newspaj>ei*s  were  to  be  seen. 
He  chanced  upon  an  article  in  a  New  York  sheet 
containing  a  bitter  philippic  ujxm  no  less  a  person 
than  himself.  It  belonged  to  that  now  exploded 
form  of  bitter  personality.  It  denounced  as  uncalled 
for  his  intended  visit  to  the  United  States,  as 
encouraging  that  already  too  numerous  class  of 
lecturers  who  first  mulct  the  citizens  of  their  dollars, 
and  then  return  to  their  own  country  to  lampoon 
them.  It  was  felt  at  first  as  a  decided  damper.  But 
further  reflection  made  him  think  the  onslaught 
harmless,  and  the  sting  in  it  only  of  the  pin-prod 
order. 


12  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

The  latter  half  of  October  was  spent  in  farewell 
visits  to  friends,  Thackeray  spending  most  of  his 
time  in  London.  His  correspondence  of  this  time 
is  saddened  by  a  dash  of  foreboding  bodily  ills — 
which,  luckily,  were  not  fulfilled. 

On  a  fine  autumnal  day,  the  golden  leafage  in 
English  pastures  being  at  its  best,  we  left  London  by 
train  for  Liverpool,  the  first  stage  of  our  journey  to 
the  States ;  this  was  on  the  29th  of  October. 

About  a  hundred  passengers,  as  an  after-ref- 
erence to  the  name-list  showed  us,  were  doing  the 
same. 

Thackeray  had  been  invited,  as  well  as  myself,  to 
take  shelter  on  this  last  evening  in  the  hospitable 
house  of  Mr.  Katclift'e,  of  the  firm  of  Bailey  Brothers, 
iron-masters ;  and  we  drove  to  Clarence  Terrace, 
which  commands  a  fine  view  of  the  Mersey  and  its 
shipping.  A  friendly  party  met  at  dinner ;  amongst 
the  rest  the  Mayor  of  Liverpool,  Mr.  Thomas 
Littledale.  The  pidce  de  resistance  at  the  banquet,  in 
the  shape  of  roast  sucking-pig,  was  received  with  all 
the  honours  of  loud  laughter.  The  considerate  hostess, 
knowing  the  Thackerayan  fondness  for  that  succulent 
joint,  had  prepared  this  surprise  for  him,  and  had 
donned  it  in  its  appetising  crackle-coating.  But,  of 
course,  the  prospective  sailors,  as  well  as  their  brother- 
guests,  felt  that  this  was  hardly  the  proper  foundation 


^V    VOYAGE  13 

for  meeting  stoutly  the  heaving  billows  of  the 
morrow.  Undaunted,  however,  by  the  somewhat 
dubious  results  foreshadowed,  full  justice  was  done 
to  this  part  of  the  menu,  breaking  uj>  the  festivities, 
in  first-rate  humour,  late  in  the  evening. 

The  next  day,  October  30th,  we  bade  farewell  to 
our  kind  hosts,  and  before  ten  o'clock,  the  appointed 
hour,  we  found  ourselves,  on  a  bright  sunshiny  morn- 
ing, waiting  for  the  tender  at  the  end  of  the  landing 
stage.  Whilst  we  were  looking  out  for  it,  and  mind- 
ing that  no  traps  were  missing,  a  messenger  suddenly 
arrived  with  a  large  batch  of  correspondence  and  a 
yet  larger  square  brown-pa j>er  parcel.  On  opening 
the  latter  Thackeray  found  therein  several  copies  of 
u  Esmond,"  in  three  volumes,  of  which  this  instalment, 
the  first  issued,  reached  him  just  in  time  before 
starting.  He  turned  over  the  uncut  leaves,  expressed 
himself  well  pleased  with  this  finale  of  lengthened 
labour  on  his  part,  and  thought  the  Smith  and  Elder 
firm  had  well  capj>ed  their  acceleration  of  production 
of  the  proof-sheets  with  this  wind-up  of  their  neat 
binding  ere  he  left  the  English  shore. 

The  tender  came  alongside ;  we  embarked  upon 
it,  and  were  soon  clambering  up  the  ladder  swung 
on  the  sides  of  the  royal  mail  ship  Canada  (Captain 
Lang),  the  gallant  vessel  moving  along  as  we  did  so. 
We  felt,  as  most  do  on  such  occasions,  that  the  ship 


J4 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


looked  much  smaller  than  our  anticipations  had  led  us 
to  expect,  and  was  not  such  as  to  correspond  in  impor- 
tance with  the  renowned  personages  in  the  world  of 


ON    BOARD   THE    " CANADA 


literature  now  grouped  together  on  board.  Besides 
Thackeray,  there  was  Russell  Lowell,  fresh  from 
Italy.  Coming  up  the  companion  ladder,  I  noticed  a 


EN    VOYAGE 


.15 


burly  form,  in  mustard-coloured  inexpressibles,  aiid  a 
wideawake  hat  crowning  a  swarthy  face.  This  was 
Arthur  Hugh  Clough,  the  poet  and  Oxford  Don, 
whose  published  Diary  gives  a  pleasant  account  of 
this  voyage  and  of  the  }>eople  on  board.  I  have  pre- 
served the  sketch  of  a  few  of  them  as  they  clustered 
round  the  binnacle.  Towering  above  all  in  size, 
you  note,  chatting,  Titmarsh  himself,  with  head  and 
travelling-cap  above  the  line  of  the  horizon. 

I  soon  discovered  that  I  did  not  belong  to  that 
class  of  people  who  follow  the  advice  of  enterprising 
encyclopaedic  dictionary  publishers,  to  buy  and  read 
their  volumes  through  on  a  sea  voyage,  emerging 
from  their  perusal  at  the  end  in  the  possession  of  a 
portentous  fund  of  knowledge.  1  preferred  sketching 
to  reading.  Here 
are  selected  a  few 
of  these  jottings. 

First  notice 
Captain  Lang,  sex- 
tant in  hand,  deter- 
mining our  where- 
abouts at  noon,  if 
the  sun  appeared 
at  that  convenient 
j  u  n  c  t  u  r  e.  Also 
his  lieutenant 


16 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

assisting     him 


in  this  im- 
portant operation.  Next  is 
a  passenger,  for  whom  his 
co-mates  clubbed  together  to 
present  him  with  a  valuable 
razor  and  piece  of  soap  on 
a  r  r  i  v  a  1,  as  he  see  m  e  d 
utterly  destitute  of  these 
two  c  o  m  m  o  d  i  t  i  e  s.  The 
sailors'  dress  and  their  well- 
knit  forms  always  afford 
good  lines,  whether  "  heaving  the  log,"  as  here 
seen,  or  giving  a  coat  of  paint  to  the  masts  or  spar- 
gear. 

When  nearing  Cape  Race 
the  vessel  Avas  brought-to, 
and  the  engines  suddenly 
ceased  to  throb,  the  steamer 
balancing  on  a  gentle  swell. 
Conversations  ceased  ;  every- 
body watched  to  see  what 
would  be  revealed  by  the 
deep-sea  lead.  (Brother 
land  -  lubbers,  please  pro- 
nounce "  dipsey  -  lead  "  as 
you  here  gaze  at  its  shape 
and  its  tell-tale  indicator 


A   PASSENGEK 


ARRIVAL  AT  HALIFAX 


of  depth  of  the  sea  under  you  full  many  a 
fathom.)  Twas  all  right  ;  we  were  in  our  proper 
course  ;  the  lights  ceased  to  twinkle  ;  on  the  vessel 
ploughed  once  more  for  Halifax.  When  that  port 


THE    I'KH-  -f   v    LEAH 


was  reached,  I  remained  below,  and  thus  missed 
the  chance  of  landing  and  seeing  the  place  in 
darkness.  I  afterwards  heard  that  when  refreshing 
themselves  at  this  nocturnal  bar,  by  a  sudden  frolic 
some  passengers  put  up  to  mock  auction  the  negro 
attendant,  who  was  run  up  to  a  tremendous  price. 
The  freeman  probably  took  it  as  a  great  compli- 
ment, and  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  efficiency 
in  the  serving  line. 
2 


18  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

It  was  a  delightful  sensation  to  be  steaming 
between  the  rocky  reefs  on  entering  the  Boston 
harbour,  after  being  pent  up  for  so  many  days.  Our 
captain  donned  his  best  suit,  and  appeared  on  deck 
silver  trumpet  in  hand  ;  and  after  bumping  against  a 
pier,  then  backing  once  more,  he  sent  out  the  hawser, 
which  now  bound  us  to  the  New  England  shore.  We 
had,  overhead,  a  most  glorious  sunset  effect  of  cloud- 
land,  quite  eclipsing  the  now  already  darkening 
outline  of  the  distant  town  of  Boston.  Thackeray 
looked  on,  interested  to  watch  the  numerous  forms  of 
greeting  of  friends.  As  yet  there  were  no  visible 
signs  of  his  visit  being  expected  ;  an  absence  of 
demonstrativeness  quite  at  variance  with  former  un- 
burthening  of  welcome,  as  described  by  Dickens  and 
others.  The  facetice  perpetrated  in  the  "  American 
Notes "  had  damped  the  enthusiastic  ardour  of  the 
Yankees,  who  now  hung  out  no  exuberant  bunting. 
There  seemed  to  be  not  even  a  solitary  interviewing 
reporter  to  greet  the  lecturer  as  he  stood,  his  small 
bag  in  hand,  looking  on  at  the  bustling  crowds.  This 
was,  however,  only  simulated  reticence  ;  they  soon 
showed  abundant  proofs  of  a  hearty  predisposition  in 
his  favour. 

Tempted  by  the  comparatively  moderate  charges 
made  in  Europe  for  male  and  female  apparel,  most 
of  the  passengers  had  no  easy  task  to  get  through, 


THE  DRIVE   TO   BOSTON  1«) 

ill  securing  their  accumulated  trunks  when  passed  by 
the  investigating  Custom  House  officials. 

The  luggage  brought  by  us  looked  quite  insignifi- 
cant by  comparison.     A    portmanteau,  a  black  bag,  a 


01  K    fONVEYA.NCI 


dispatch-case,  and  an  umbrella,  gummed  up  the 
Thackerayan  impedimenta,  which,  along  with  my 
still  more  exiguous  luggage,  were  soon  hoisted  up  on 
the  top  of  a  vehicle  of  the  most  primitive  type.  My 
outline  of  it,  hastily  done  in  crayon,  will  give  a 
notion  of  its  quaint  internal  anatomy.  Its  cramped 


20  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

space  ill-suited  the  long  limbs  which  tried  vainly  to 
accommodate  themselves  within  it,  and  a  grin  per- 
vaded the  English  humorist's  face  as  he  scanned  its 
marvellous  fittings  of  leather  straps  which  served 
as  back-rests.  Before  closing  the  door  four  dollars 
each  was  demanded  by  the  rapacious  driver;  and 
when  he  was  thus  satisfied,  the  glorious  sunset  and 
its  accompanying  twin  rainbow  having  made  way 
by  this  time  for  dusk  and  for  twinkling  lights,  we 
bumped  into  Boston  by  circuitous  routes,  till  we 
reached  the  hospitable  shelter  of  the  "Tremont 
House,"  where  quarters  had  been  secured  beforehand 
for  us. 

A  gratulatory  supper  was  soon  put  before  us,  and 
the  kindly  greeting  of  Mr.  Fields  in  this  huge 
banqueting-room — which  we  had  at  this  late  hour  to 
ourselves,  till  joined  suddenly  by  our  friend  Mr. 
Arthur  Clough — made  amends  in  its  cheering  prospect 
for  our  somewhat  forlorn  arrival. 

The  great  feature  was  a  large  dish  of  oysters,  one 
of  which  Thackeray  took  up  on  his  fork-end,  and 
glancing  at  it  said  it  must  have  resembled  the  right 
ear  of  Malchus  when  cut  oft',  as  recorded  in  Holy 
Writ.  Feeling  somewhat  oppressed  by  the  banquet, 
Mr.  Fields  suggested,  as  a  finale  and  sedative,  the 
straw-tickled  sherry-cobbler.  For  this  we  adjourned 
to  the  smoking-room.  Thus  be^an  the  series  of 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  21 

feast  ings  iii  superabundance,  which  afterwards  made 
the  chief  recipient  describe  his  American  tour  as 
resulting  in  one  unbroken  "  indigestion " 

•^  O 

We  retired  to  well-earned  rest.  Next  morning, 
on  comparing  notes,  we  agreed  that  the  beds  seemed 
to  us  to  have  rocked,  and  that  wave-breaks  still 
acted  as  a  lullaby  in  our  sleep;  Thackeray  going  so 
far  as  to  aver  that  lie  had  actually  tumbled  out  of 
bed  in  the  lurches  of  imagination. 

In  trying  to  recall  first  impressions  as  they 
struck  us  newcomers  in  this  land  of  kith  and  kin,  I 
seem  to  have  been  chiefly  exercised  by  the  precocity 
of  youthful  callings,  mostly  tending  to  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge,  and,  along  with  it,  the  craving  for 
intelligent  mental  pleasures:  in  the  first  instance,  as 
exemplified  in  the  typical  newsboy,  who  did  not, 
as  with  us,  din  with  ear-shrieking  sounds  the  latest 
news  from  the  pavement ;  he  simply  made  his  way 
straight  into  drawing-room  or  hotel  parlour  with  his 
batch  of  "'Erald*  and  Tribunes,"  which  once  handed 
to  the  purchasers,  he  went  off,  as  a  capitalist  brat 
of  eight  years  of  age.  When  you  turned  to  the 
reader  of  the  said  papers,  you  found  he  was  a  lad 
scarcely  in  his  teens,  already  devouring  the  toughest 
leaders,  and  mastering  the  news  of  the  world 
whilst  whining  his  cigar,  and  not  without  making 
shies  at  a  huge  expectorator  close  at  hand. 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

Thackeray 
showed  these 
graphic  efforts  of 
mine  to  limn 
their  features  to 
guests  of  his,  as- 
sembled at  the 
"Tremont"  at 
this  time,  as  I 
tried  my  hand  at 


£«sT«a   *W- 


inous  turkey,  my 
firgt       indoctrina- 
tion in  dissection  of  such  huge  wings  and  drumsticks. 
Notwithstanding    the    bird's    Eastern    name,    the    as- 
sembled company, 
I    recollect,    gave 
it     a     "Western 
origin,  and  stated 
— I     make     no 
doubt,  truly — that 
this     favorite 
Christmas      fare 
originally      came, 
as     it     still    con- 
tinued to  do,  from 
Virginia, 


THE  "POET  BTNN" 


They    good-naturedly    acknowledged     the    general 
truth  of  the  designs,  in  the  lulls  of  mastication. 

As  yet  those  masterly   sketches  which  delight   us 


THIt   "PORT    BfNN" 


in  American  illustrate*!  works,  with  such  astonishing 
wealth  of  observation  and  with  such  skilful  draughts- 
manship, had  not  appeared,  or  I  might  have  found  my 
critics  more  difficult  to  please. 

I  forget   whether   amongst  the   scratches  was   the 
one  now  included,  representing  the  well-known  figure  of 


24  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

the  impresario  Bunn,  the  "  poet  Bunn  "  of  Punch.  This 
popular  librettist  was  at  the  "Revere  House,"  where 
we  paid  him  a  visit.  Like  mine  host,  he  had  come  to 
lecture  in  the  States — on  his  stage  experiences.  In 
the  published  character-drawings  of  him,  including  the 
well-known  Titmarshian  ones,  he  was  attired  in  fault- 
less evening  costume.  Here  he  is  seen  en  deshabille. 
It  was  on  a  Sunday,  I  recollect,  after  church  hours, 
and  his  prayer-book  was  on  the  table,  and  beside  it  a 
refreshing  B.  and  S.  tumbler.  Beckoning  to  the  one,  he 
said,  "  Here  is  business ; "  and  to  the  other,  "  Here  is 
pleasure."  This  was  not  said  with  any  irreverence, 
as  this  curt  sentence  might  suggest.  The  man,  in 
the  midst  of  much  frolicsome  spirit,  was  really  of  a 
serious  and  religious  frame  of  mind,  exemplified  in 
his  later  days  by  his  turning  a  devout  Roman  Catholic 
and  dying  in  the  odour  of  sanctity  at  Boulogue-sur- 
Mer,  where  he  spent  his  last  breath. 

In  the  same  hotel  we  next  visited  the  famous 
prima  donna  Madame  Sontag.  Here  is  her  graceful 
appearance,  to  which  feeble  justice  is  done,  but  which 
may  pass  as  the  pictorial  parting  record  of  a  world- 
famed  cantatrice.  She  was  then  engaged  in  farewell 
touring  concerts.  She  spoke  in  mellifluous  French: 
talked  of  the  Jenny  Liud  successes  before  her  own, 
scarcely  expecting  to  rival  the  enormous  profits  made 
by  that  popular  songstress,  but  still  with  the  prospect 


MME.   SO^ TAG 


of  realizing    a    competence ;    then,  waving    her    hand 
across    her   throat,    announced    to   her    visitor   her   in- 


tention  of  closing  her  gositr  after  her  present  tour. 
With    her,   as    in    the   case   of    too   many   faces   met 


2G  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

in  those  now  remote  days,  it  has  to  be  recorded  that 
Fate,  in  the  shape  of  some  malarious  attack,  closed 
for  ever  her  public  career  long  before  it  could  have 
been  said  to  have  run  its  natural  course.  A  sketch 
of  her  as  she  appeared  at  this  time,  and  her  hajid- 
gesture  expressing  her  above-mentioned  determination 
to  retire,  may  be  accepted  as  perhaps  the  last  illus- 
tration taken  of  the  features  of  Countess  Rossi.  The 
"Melodeon"  (p.  41)  was  the  handsome  concert  hall  at 
that  time ;  we  went  to  hear  the  famous  songstress  there. 
Thackeray,  who  was  to  lecture  there  a  month  later, 
took  note  of  the  acoustic  capabilities  of  the  hall,  and 
ascertained  the  proper  voice-pitch  needed. 

Mr.  Fields  has  amused  his  readers  by  giving  his 
version  of  this  occasion,  when  Thackeray,  who  sat 
beside  him,  volunteered  to  give  imaginary  readings  of 
character  of  each  person  as  they  took  their  seats  in  the 
stalls  near  us.  When  Mr.  Fields,  who  knew  everybody, 
afterwards  told  us  the  real  life  of  those  so  playfully 
described,  these  readings  were  found  to  be  in  most 
cases  much  nearer  the  reality  than  the  usual  guesses  of 
palmists  or  phrenologists.  These  wiseacres  may  be  said 
not  to  see  much  farther  into  character  than  yonder 
wooden  sailor  seen  perched  on  a  supporting  bracket  on 
the  Boston  Quay,  making  believe  to  take  an  observa- 
tion with  a  sham  sextant  on  a  non-existent  sun. 

In     old    and    new    guide-books,    when    compared 


777^   "  TREMONT' 


together,  the  striking  change  is  noticed  in  the  fashion 
of  hotel  resorts.  Thus  we  are  informed  that  the  claims, 
then  paramount,  of  the  "  Tremont "  and  the  "  Revere  " 


•V    Till     COMMEIK  IAL  WHARF,    B«»TuN 


hotels,  have  succumbed  to  those  of  yet  more  splendid 
ones,  called  the  "  Veudome  "  and  the  "  Brunswick."  In 
the  fifties  the  "Tremoiit"  was  new,  clean,  and  full 


28  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

of  comforts,  with  an  abundant  cuisine  of  the  best— 
whether  (as  we  sometimes  did)  availing  yourself  of  the 
special  room  set  apart  for  repasts  of  persons  having 
lady  friends  with  them,  or  in  the  more  numerously 
attended  general  table  d'hote.  I  recollect  at  this  last 


resort,  when  coming  in  rather  late,  taking  inadvert- 
ently a  vacant  seat  at  a  side  table.  I  had  soon  a 
gasping  sense  of  gulping  down  my  food  too  rapidly,  as 
active  waiters  plied  one,  without  intervals  of  rest, 
with  successive  dishes.  On  demanding  the  explana- 
tion of  this  unwonted  expedition,  and  expressing  a 


DASIEL    WEBSTER. 


wish  for  a  temporary  respite,  1  was  informed  this 
was  "  an  express  table  "  for  people  anxious  to  catch  a 
train  and  with  few  minutes  to  spare  in  degustation. 
I  carefully  avoided  it  in  future;  I  feel  sure  I  should 
otherwise  have  succumbed  to  liver  complaint. 

The  latest  victim  to  this  dire  and  insidious  mal- 
ady was  the  great  orator  Daniel  Webster.  All  the 
streets  were,  at  this  period,  festooned  with  mourning 
draperies,  his  funeral  having  taken  place  on  the  29th 
of  October.  The  papers  were  filled  with  panegyrics 
of  his  career.  One  of  his  greatest  flights  of  oratory, 
it  was  then  averred,  was  on  the  occasion  of  the 
inauguration  of  the  Quincy  granite  pillar,  221  feet 
high,  better  known  as  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument, 
ten  years  before  his  death.  I  naturally  went  to  in- 
spect it,  crossing  the  Charlestown  Ferry  for  that 
purpose.  I  here  give  the  outline  of  the  pleasant 
prospect  of  Boston  from  that  place,  though  probably 
ulterior  conflagrations  and  demolitions  may  have  quite 
altered  its  aspect  since  then. 


30  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

Of  that  stern  fight  two  relics,  as  noted  afterwards 
in  the  first  chapter  of  "The  Virginians,"  were  sus- 
pended at  that  time  in  the  library  of  William  Hickling 
Prescott,  the  historian.  They  have,  since  his  death, 
been  transferred  to  the  Massachusetts  Library  as  a 
bequest.  They  were  the  swords  of  two  relatives  of 
the  historian,  fighting  on  opposite 
sides  at  the  neighbouring  Port  of 
Charlestown ;  the  naval  hero's 
name,  on  the  Royal  side,  was  Cap- 
tain John  Linzee,  grandfather  of 
Mrs.  Prescott ;  the  other,  his  oppo- 
nent, was  Col.  William  Prescott, 
grandfather  of  the  author.  W.  H. 
Prescott  only  lived  half  a  dozen 
years  after  the  time  of  our  meeting 
him,  having  a  graceful  eulogium  paid  him  by  his 
English  friend.  Most  of  the  likenesses  of  him 
Avere  full-faced,  besides  being  youthful  ones ;  here 
is  his  profile,  in  which  his  blindness  is  not  notice- 
able. In  his  conversation  he  made  you  forget  this 
misfortune  by  his  cheery  and  bland  way  of  looking 
at  life.  I  am  glad  to  have  caught  its  semblance. 
It  brings  back  to  mind  the  cosy  library.  His 
wading  through  old  records,  aided  by  his  secretary, 
was  portentous ;  but  this  did  not  dull  his  bright  view 
of  men  and  things,  which  suited  your  humour  as  his 


OLD  HUXKKK" 


clothes  did  the  weather.  Tis  said,  I  know  not  with 
what  truth,  his  overcoats  were  all  labelled  as  suited 
for  certain  degrees  of  temperature,  and  were  donned 
accordingly  when  he  sallied  forth  under  the  guidance 
of  his  secretary.  He  was  what  we  call  an  Ultra- 
Conservative,  there  known  under  the  pleasing  appella- 
tion of  "Old  Hunker."  In  height 
and  gait  Professor  Fawcett,  who 
conquered  fame  also  by  indomitable 
pluck  against  the  same  calamity, 
reminded  me  of  his  tall  erect  figure 
strolling  out  hitched  to  the  elbow  of 
his  amanuensis. 

Belonging  also  to  the  same 
euphoniously  named  party  was 
George  Ticknor,  historian  of  Span- 
ish literature,  whose  companion  physiognomy  is  here 
inserted.  Here,  again,  in  his  home,  were  rows  of 
well-ordered  bookshelves.  One  evening — I  recollect, 
it  was  after  the  "Congreve"  lecture — we  were  hos- 
pitably invited  to  adjourn  to  Mr.  Ticknor' s  house  for 
a  sociable  chat  over  pij>es  and  baccy.  A  propos  of 
"pipes"  and  their  introduction  into  the  lecture  of  the 
evening,  someone  asked  what  they  really  meant,  and 
what  was  the  Pipe  Office.  Mr.  Ticknor  took  down 
from  one  of  his  well-supplied  shelves  a  technological 
dictionary — Spelman's,  I  think — from  which  he  read 


.hi'Ki.K    Til  KM'i: 


32  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

out   the   following    explanation: — "So    called  because 
the  papers  were  kept  in  a  large  pipe  or  cask." 

But    since   that    time,   in    the   edition  de  luxe   of 

Thackeray's  works  published  in   1879,  a  full  number 


of  annotations  appear  to  throw  doubts  upon  this 
meaning,  and  the  perplexed  reader  is  allowed  to 
choose  whichever  version  he  .pleases.  This  fully 
justifies  the  reticence  of  the  author,  who  only  nodded 
in  partial  acquiescence  in  the  proposed  reading  of 
the  word  by  his  friend  Mr.  Ticknor. 

Difficulties    hereafter   might   occur   if    trusting   to 
conflicting  lexicographers.      For  example,  they  allude 


EXPECTORATORS 


33 


to  pipes,  they  dilate  upon  tobacco,  but  the  useful 
receptacles  for  the  moistening  results,  popularly 
known  as  "  spittoons,"  or  "  expectorators,"  or  "  expect- 
aroons,"  are  terras  jealously  excluded  from  their 


A   CPLAMIY    BED 


vocabularies ;  yet  they  are  palpable  enough  to  the 
senses.  The  courtyard  of  the  Charleston  Hotel  was 
piled  with  these  in  the  morning,  when  the  wholesome 
water-hose  was  turned  upon  them  vigorously,  a  sight 
quite  unique  in  its  way.  This,  however,  is  in  antici- 
pation of  events. 

Insufficient,  strange  to  say,  they  were,  for  I  recol- 
lect being  put  into  a  bedroom  the  walls  of  which 
were  maculated  with  the  bistre-coloured  emissions  of 
former  slumberers  on  the  same  pillow. 


34  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

On  the  16th  of  November,  and  in  pleasant  balmy 
weather,  we  left  Boston  for  New  York,  after  a  week's 
stay.  We  took  the  cars  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  I  was  duly  laden  with  a  lot  of  heavy 
brass  checks  corresponding  to  others  fixed  to  our  lug- 
gage, each  label  being  suspended  to  a  leather  strap. 

Thackeray  has  described  a  scene  which  I  here 
illustrate  in  outline,  though  unconscious,  as  I  saw 
it,  of  the  bygone  memories  it  personally  evoked  in 
his  person,  of  which  he  afterwards,  in  the  preface  to 
the  New  York  edition  of  his  works,  made  the  New 
York  public,  and  therefore  the  wrhole  reading  world, 
a  confidant.  It  was  when  "  a  rosy-cheeked  little  peri- 
patetic book-merchant "  accosted  him  with  his  own 


"  THACKERAY'S;  WORKS,  SIB  1 ' 


ON  THE   WAY  TO  NEW  YORK  35 

volumes,  and  called  out  u  Thackeray's  Works  ! "  quite 
unaware  that  he  was  addressing  the  author  himself. 
He  therefore  re-read  his  "Shabby  Genteel  Story,"  of 
a  dozen  years  l>efore,  as  we  were  whisked  along  the 
undulating  territory  of  Massachusetts.  I  expended 
twenty-five  cents  in  the  purchase  of  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  and  was  properly  harrowed  by  the  tale  told 
by  Mrs.  Beecher-Stowe.  But  Thackeray  declined  to 
plunge  into  its  tale  of  woe  ;  his  opinion  expressed  upon 
it  being  that  stories  founded  upon  such  painful  themes 
were  scarcely  within  the  legitimate  purview  of  story- 
telling. Besides,  judicious  friends  had  dinned  well 
into  his  ears  the  propriety  of  his  not  committing 
himself  to  either  side  of  the  Slavery  Question,  then  a 
burning  one,  if  he  wished  his  career  as  a  lecturer 
not  to  become  a  burthen  to  him. 

He  dwelt  in  preference  upon  the  blithe  aspects  of 
American  life,  such  as  the  group  of  children  in  the 
cars,  eight  in  numl)er,  every  one  of  whom  he  wished 
there  and  then  to  present  with  a  dollar  tip  a-piece. 
Their  conversation  was  of  the  outspoken  sort,  so  we 
soon  learnt  their  tribulations,  the  most  serious  of 
which  was  having  forgotten  to  bring  with  them  a 
cake  prepared  for  the  journey.  Jimmy,  the  white- 
hatted  youngster,  evidently  felt  the  loss  acutely.  But 
when  we  were  crossing  the  ferry  the  cake  was  replaced 
by  another,  soon  sliced  up  and  devoured. 


86 


WITH  THACKERAY  IX  AMERICA 


Meanwhile  the  train  went  on  at  a  good  speed, 
with  intermittent  stoppages.  At  one  of  the  stations, 
where  an  appetising  lunch  was  set  out,  to  which  I 
was  doing  full  justice,  not  hearing  the  departure 
signal,  I  only  got  on  the  platform  in  time  to  see  the 


receding  engine  and  cars  speeding  on  and  leaving  me 
solitary  on  the  platform.  The  metal  labels  seemed 
to  weigh  heavier  somehow  in  my  pocket  as  I  sud- 
denly realised  to  myself  the  discomfort  caused  to  the 
owner  of  the  baggage  in  not  having  these  vouchers 
forthcoming  on  arrival  in  New  York. 

I  came  on  by  a  slow  train,  known  technically  as 
an  "  accommodation "  one,  which  stopped  at  every 
station,  and  brought  me  some  time  later  to  New  York. 


GEORGE  BANCROFT 


37 


I  got  out,  and,  having  gone  some  distance,  in- 
quired for  the  "  Clarendon  Hotel."  "  Second  block," 
was  the  reply,  and  it  dawned  upon  me  that  the 
direction  referred,  not  to  the  streets,  but  to  the  divi- 
sions between  each  of  them,  a  sensible  innovation. 


IN   THE   ACCOMMODATION   THAIS 


Thackeray  had  extricated  the  traps  by  merely 
pointing  them  out,  but  with  imperturbable  good- 
humor  and  kindness  made  the  best  of  the  mishap. 
Besides,  he  had  been  amused  by  the  advent  of  a 
well-known  character,  making  his  appearance,  upon 
his  arrival,  as  an  interviewer,  as  he  did  to  most 
European  celebrities,  with  a  view  to  "copy."  More 
welcome  was  a  more  genuine  chronicler,  who  was 
only  second  in  visiting  rotation,  the  historian  Mr. 


382994 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


Bancroft,  whom  I  found  already  in  converse  with 
him.  He  had  what  the  French  call  the  nose-pincher 
kind  of  spectacles  ;  over  his  forehead  was  the 
Napoleonic  wisp  of  hair,  and  the  air  of  diplomacy 
suffused  his  sallow  features.  It  was  only  in  conversa- 
_-g^m^..  tion,  and  by  his  references 

to  literary  Hinterland  recol- 
lections, that  you  guessed  him 
to  be  older  than  he  looked. 
For  example,  at  dinner  he  said 
he  had  met  Lord  Byron  once 
at  Genoa.  A  reference  to  the 
pages  of  Thomas  Moore  shows 
this  must  have  been  as  far 
back  as  the  November  of 
1822,  when  Byron  was  oc- 
his  Villa  Saluzzo,  at  Albauo.  Thackeray 
at  Charterhouse.  Mr.  Bancroft 


Mil.     BANCROFT 


cupying 
said    he 


was   then 

lectured  one  evening  before  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  where  we  went  to  hear  him.  He  sought 
relaxation  from  his  historical  labours  by  inviting 
friends  in  the  evening,  and  a  night  or  two  after  our 
arrival  Thackeray  came  back  to  the  hotel,  where  I 
had  remained  solitarily,  and  described  astonishing 
feats  he  had  been  witness  to  for  the  first  time. 

This   was    his    initiation    into     the     table-turning 
mystery,  the  hat-twirling,  etc.,  accompanied   by  spirit- 


40 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


rapping  manifestations :  a  nine  days'  wonder,  or  rather 
more.  Whilst  the  mania  lasted  Mr.  Home  was  the  hero 
of  the  hour.  If  we  believe  his  published  Memoirs — 
which,  by  the  bye,  are  singularly  reticent  as  to  his 
stay  in  New  York — at  this  period  he  was  only  twenty 
years  of  age,  though  looking  older.  Here  he  may 


TABLE-TrRNIX< 


be  seen  jotting  down  the  alphabetical  raps,  whilst  the 
rest  of  the  company,  finger-tips  touching  each  other, 
keep  up  the  current  of  spiritual  enunciation.  Some 
words  came  out,  wondrously  distorted  if  names,  and 
misspelt  if  mere  words.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  some 
maliciously  disposed  votaries  on  these  occasions  used 


THEODORE  PARKER 


41 


to  give  him  linguistic  nuts  to  crack  which  were  beyond 
his  limited  comprehension. 

Belonging  to  the  noble  New  England  army  of 
authors  may  here  be  mentioned  the  Rev.  Theodore 
Parker,  the  Anti-Slaver}*  champion  and  eloquent 


THE  REV.  THEODORE  PARKER  PREACHING 


preacher.  Though  his  home  was  at  Boston,  I  first 
heard  him  lecture  at  the  New  York  Tabernacle,  full 
of  fire  and  .earnestness,  quite  refreshing  to  listen  to. 
The  audience  was  sufficiently  crowded,  though  the 
syllabus  was  as  alarming  as  the  title  of  Bossuet's 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


"Histoire  Universelle."  The  subject  was  "The  Pro- 
gress of  Mankind."  The  reading  requisite  for  such  a 
theme  was  prodigious.  Primitive  man  and  his  latest 
developments  came  under  review.  Franklin  was 
belauded  for  teaching  lightning  to  go  straight,  and 
not  to  destroy  everything,  as  it  did  in  its  "rowdy 

days  "  —  an  illu- 
sion which  tick- 
led the  ground- 
lings. On  the 
whole  it  may  be 
said  that  poor  old 
Europe  came  in 
second-best. 
After  the  great 
names  of  Law- 
rence and  Lowell 
J-Jorocd  £rc:<?!<^,/^.»  had  been  justly 
singled  out  as 

grand  New  England  worthies,  a  Cockney  was  a  little 
ruffled  at  finding  "  Chicopee  and  London "  bracketed 
together  as  towns  emblematic  of  advanced  civilisation. 
London  came  second  after  a  miniature  Manchester 
with  barely  twelve  thousand  inhabitants ;  but  then  it 
was  in  Massachusetts. 

The  mention   of  Franklin  brings  to  mind   Horace 
Greeley,  happily  dubbed  "  a  later   Franklin  "  by  the 


THACKERAY'S   WELCOME  43 

poet  Wliittier.  He  was  a  welcome  visitor  at  the 
"  Clarendon,"  and  in  a  few  sentences  helped  one  some- 
what out  of  the  tangled  maze  of  American  politics, 
and  was  a  good  type  of  the  Press  militant.  I  was 
able  in  after-years  to  return  the  compliment  by  answer- 
ing interrogations  as  to  affairs  in  Europe  when  I  met 
him  in  Paris.  I  remember  seeing  him  at  an  English 
charity  ball  given  there.  He  was  much  exercised, 
on  asking  me  to  point  out  to  him  which  of  the  ladies 
were  the  noble  patronesses  whose  titles  figured  on  the 
list  of  the  evening's  programme,  at  being  informed 
that  they  so  appeared  pro  fonrui  only,  not  many  being 
present  on  that  occasion.  lie  had,  at  that  time,  quite 
recovered  from  his  Presidential  Election  fatigues  in 
185*2,  when  his  party,  whom  we  should  denominate 
Conservatives,  but  who  in  the  States  were  known  as 
the  "  Whigs,"  were  "  dished." 

On  the  12th  of  November,  by  telegrams  from 
Halifax  announcing  that  Thackeray  was  a  passenger 
on  board  the  Canadci,  etc.  etc.,  Thackeray's  arrival 
in  New  York  had  been  heralded  with  the  usual 
flourish  of  trumpets,  in  which  the  New  York  Daily 
Tribune  chiefly  distinguished  itself.  It  said,  under 
the  date  of  November  13th,  "He  comes  on  the  invi- 
tation of  the  Mercantile  Library  Association.  The 
Merchants'  Clerks  of  New  York  aspire  to  the  culture 
of  scholars  and  gentlemen,  and  import  from  abroad — 


44  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

not  the  latest  teacher  of  double  entry,  but  the  most 
thoughtful  critic  of  manners  and  society,  the  subtlest 
humorist,  and  the  most  effective,  because  the  most 
genial,  satirist  the  age  has  known.  .  .  .  Terminus, 
once  rightly  reckoned  the  sacredest  of  gods,  must  at 
this  rate  be  soon  left  without  a  worshipper."  This 
was  written  by  Mr.  Henry  James,  the  father  of  the 
well-known  author  and  dramatist  now  amongst  us. 
He  and  Mr.  Dana  and  Professor  Felton  were  a  few 
of  the  able  staff  supporting  the  paper.  The  editor, 
and  part  owner  of  its  stock,  was  Mr.  Horace  Greeley, 
whose  presses  we  went  over  to  examine  one  after- 
noon. 


CHAPTER  II 


The  Rev.  Mr.  Chapin's  Chapel — Lectures— Brooklyn — American  Art — 
Leah — Wall  Street — Barnum — Genius — James  Harper  and  Apple- 
ton — G.  P.  R.  James — Boston  Museum — William  A llston— "Coast- 
ing " — Stuart's  Portrait  of  General  Washington — New  York  Once 
More— A  Claimant— Washington  Irving— T.  F.  Meagher— Sleigh- 
ing— Governor's  Island — New  Jersey — Non-Abstainers. 

AFTER  an  active  morning  spent  in  interviews  and 
business,  we  took  the  Bowery  tramcars,  which  dropped 
us  not  far  from  548,  Broadway,  near  Prince  Street, 
where  we  met  by  appointment  Mr.  Millard  Felt,  who 
showed  us  over  the  Rev.  Mr.  Chapiu's  Unitarian 
Chapel,  from  which  the  Rev.  Henry 
Bellows  had  lately  retired  as  pastor. 
It  was  called  the  Church  of  the 
Unity.  I  shall  not  easily  forget  the 
author's  expression  of  wonder  when 
he  looked  athwart  the  long,  dark, 
wainscoted  benches,  and  saw  the  pil- 
lared nave  and  the  oak  pulpit.  He 
seemed  fascinated  by  the  idea  of  his 
lay-sermonising  in  this  place.  Then 
looking  at  the  communion  table,  and  appealing  to 
Secretary  Felt,  he  asked — "Would  not  the  sacred 


THE   REV.    H.    BELLOWS 


46  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

emblems  be  removed  from  the  altar  ? "  followed  by 
the  query :  "  Will  the  organ  strike  up  when  I  enter  ? " 
Then,  peering  into  the  side  room,  he  further  inquired — 
"  I  suppose  I  shall  have  to  enter  by  the  sacristy  ? " 
To  sum  up  the  matter,  it  was  determined  that  this 
was  the  eligible  resort.  The  announcements  were 
made  as  follows  : — 

LECTURES  TO  BE   GIVEN   ON  THE  FOLLOWING   EVENINGS 

Fridays— 19th    November.  Mondays— 22nd   November. 

26th  29th 

3rd   December.  6th   December. 

At  8  o'clock. 
Price  : — 3  Dollars  for  the  Course. 

The  subscription  list  was  closed  on  Thursday  even- 
ing, but  the  rush  for  tickets  soon  made  it  clear  that 
a  second  course  would  be  necessary,  and  this  was 
also  announced  thus  : — 

Wednesday,  December  1st.  Monday,   December  13th. 

Tuesday,  "  7th.  Wednesday,      "          15th. 

Friday,  "  10th.          Friday,  "          17th. 

filling  up  nearly  a  month's  interval  of  time. 

The  accompanying  illustration  (frontispiece),  jotted 
down  at  the  time  from  a  back  bench  in  the  row  of  open 
seats,  gives  an  idea  of  the  prospect.  The  lecturer 
ascended  the  somewhat  high  rostrum,  which  had  been 
erected  fronting  the  pulpit ;  along  with  him  came  the 
secretary,  Mr.  Millard  Felt,  who,  on  the  warm  greetings 


THE  FIRST  COURSE  OF  LECTURES  47 

of  welcome  subsiding,  introduced  the  lecturer  in  a  few 
well-chosen  sentences,  and  sat  down  on  a  chair  at  the 
side.  All  went  cheerily  to  the  end.  As  was  the  case 
in  England,  the  reporters  had  been  asked  not  to  give 
in  extemo  or  even  too  liberally  the  subject-matter  of  the 
lectures.  This  intent  was  honourably  adhered  to;  but 
to  eke  out  their  paragraphs — which  Thackeray  read 
with  interest  the  next  morning — the  manipulation  of 
his  coat-tails,  varied  with  his  favourite  posture  of 
diving  his  hands  in  his  side-pockets,  was  dwelt  upon 
facetiously,  as  well  as  the  unusual  fact  that  he  indulged 
in  no  particular  form  of  gesticulation.  The  first  and 
only  intimation  anyone  had  that  these  humoristic 
details  tickled  the  author's  fancy  was  on  the  arrival  in 
New  York  in  mid- January,  a  month  after  date,  of  the 
January  number  of  Eraser's  Magazine,  containing  his 
unsigned,  yet  palpably  his  own,  description  of  this 
quaint  form  of  }>ersoual  characterisation. 

Neither  the  prevailing  gloom  of  the  place  (the 
lights,  as  usual  wherever  there  is  dark  wainscot, 
proving  powerless  to  diffuse  brightness),  nor  inclement 
weather,  such  as  that  on  the  occasion  of  the  second 
lecture,  could  daunt  the  intrepid  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, the  elite  of  New  York  fashion,  from  coming  and 
applauding  throughout  the  double  courses. 

Amidst  the  applause  and  the  enthusiasm  caused  by 
Thackeray's  special  address  on  the  closing  of  the  first 


48  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

course,  viz.,  on  the  evening  of  the  6th  of  December, 
resolutions  were  proposed  and  seconded  by  Mr.  Kelly, 
President  of  the  Board  of  Education,  and  Mr.  Osgood, 
presiding  at  this  juncture.  The  latter,  I  recollect, 
said:  "I  don't  like  telling  tales  out  of  school,  but  a 
friend  of  mine  told  me  Mr.  Thackeray  said  he  only 
found  Englishmen  here ;  he  begged  to  say  that  in 
Mr.  Thackeray  they  discovered  a  genuine  Yankee/' 
(Tremendous  shouts  of  applause.)  Mr.  Kelly  in  his 
speech  seconded  the  resolution. 

As  far  as  memory  serves  after  this  lapse  of  time, 
the  citizenship  of  New  York  was  then  bestowed  upon 
the  author — a  high  distinction.  The  other  resolutions 
carried  referred  to  the  great  satisfaction  given  by  his 
visit,  and  gave  expression  to  the  thanks  due  to  the 
Mercantile  Association,  of  which  Mr.  Millard  Felt 
on  this  occasion  was  the  chairman,  and  his  fellow- 
committee-men  were  Messrs.  Francis  Hawks  and 
George  Moore. 

The  next  day's  papers,  December  7th,  contained 
a  report  of  these  proceedings,  which  divided  tjie 
attention  of  their  readers  with  the  lengthy  annual 
address  to  Congress  by  President  Fillmore.  A  fillip 
was  given  to  the  sale  of  the  original  works  descanted 
on  in  the  lectures,  and  such  paragraphs  as  these  were 
numerous  in  the  advertisements  of  the  time: — 
"Bangs,  Brothers  and  Co.  issue,  wholesale  and  retail, 


THE  END  OF  THE  FIRST  COURSE  OF  LECTURES   49 


8vo  editions  of  Addison,  Thackeray,  Steele,"  etc. 
etc. 

The  limp  brown-covered  "  Esmond "  reprints 
were  sold  for  the  trifling  sum  of  50  cents  per  copy; 
not,  however — to  the  writer's 
chagrin — in  Queen  Anne  type, 
but  in  the  ordinary  type,  and,  if 
I  mistake  not,  with  the  new- 
fangled American  spelling  of 
words,  quite  transmogrifying  its 
appearance.  These  drawbacks 
were,  however,  counterbalanced  ; 
for  the  reprints  had  the  effect  of 
popularising  the  author,  who 
was  assailed  by  demands  for 
his  discourses. 

The  now  transpontine  suburb 

of  Brooklyn  came  in  for  the  next  engagement.  I  went, 
not  as  is  now  done,  across  the  wide  expanse  of  river 
by  a  level  bridge — one  of  the  wonders  of  .modem 
engineering — but  by  taking  the  Fulton  feriy-boat, 
price  one  cent.  The  view  of  New  York  and  its 
numerous  steeple-topped  roofs  was  very  grand  from 
the  water,  with  its  array  of  merchant-ships,  clippers, 
and  liners.  Here  is  an  attempt  to  give  an  idea  of  it, 
but  it  needs  the  adjunct  of  tender  melting-blue  dis- 
tances to  realise  the  scene. 

4 


[{EVIDENT   FII.I.MOKE 


50  WITH   THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


NEW  YORK,    FROM    BROOKLYN 


The  steep  ascent  of  the  Main  Street  was  at  this 
time  lined  with  non-splendid  houses,  the  worse  for 
wear.  In  one  of  these,  and  midway  up,  I  climbed  up 
some  rickety  stairs,  and  gave  the  lecture-announcement 
to  a  clerk  at  a  desk,  who  copied  it  out,  and,  scarcely 
moving  from  his  seat,  handed  the  slip  of  paper  to  the 
type-setter.  In  a  trice  I  had  the  proofs  in  hand, 
which  were  forwarded  to  other  newspapers,  and  soon 
the  lecturer  found  himself  addressing  an  intelligent 
audience  in  one  of  the  halls,  of  which  I  regret  that 
I  forget  the  name.  It  was  the  privilege  of  a  certain 
number  of  the  clergy  of  this  district  to  grace  the 
lecture  by  their  presence,  and  their  white  chokers 
gave  a  solemnity  of  the  Quaker  order  to  the  scene. 
At  the  jovial  supper  which  followed  the  lecture 
this  somewhat  starched  demeanour  was  replaced  by 
boisterous  hilarity.  It  is  an  odd  circumstance  tnat, 
whilst  genuine  humour  often  evanesces,  the  figments 
of  the  Joe-Millerian  type  keep  fast  hold  on  the 
memory.  Such  an  one  belongs  to  this  evening's 
entertainment,  and  elicited  laughter.  A  country 


AMERICAN  PAINTERS  51 

bumpkin,  who  had  never  seen  either  a  negro  or  a 
cigar,  was  asked  by  a  smoker  of  that  swarthy  breed 
whether  he  would  whiff  a  Havannah.  His  reply 
was:  "Na,  na,  Mr.  Deil,  I  canna  eat  fire  like  you!" 
This  evening's  reception  was,  if  need  were,  a  satisfy- 
ing proof  to  Thackeray  that  he  would  meet  with 
appreciative  listeners  wherever  he  appeared,  irre- 
spective of  the  specially  chosen  agencies  for  pro- 
moting popularity. 

Amongst  the  friends  of  student-time  in  Paris  I 
now  met  at  the  "Century"  Club  was  a  clever  land- 
scape painter,  Kensett,  who  had  grown  as  stout  as  he 
was  formerly  the  reverse,  and  who  didn't  recognise  me 
in  the  least,  owing  to  some  facial  change  of  the  same 
nature.  "We  met  at  an  artistic  gathering  called  the 
"  Sketch  Club,"  the  assembled  company  coming  to- 
gether with  no  other  designs  than  to  chat,  smoke, 
and,  last,  not  least,  eat  oysters  of  the  usual  huge  size. 

Church,  then  emerged  already  into  fame,  was 
painting  scenes  of  the  grandiose  kind :  such  as  the 
Falls  of  Niagara,  very  skilfully  done — his  speciality. 

But  the  host  of  able  painters  from  the  United 
States  who  watched  and  who  studied  the  very  latest 
phases  of  French  art  were,  as  a  body,  only  then  in 
embryo.  I  understand,  from  the  publications  de- 
voted to  art,  that  the  great  demand  now  is  for 
works  of  the  ultra-Impressionist  school,  not  even 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


thought  of  at  that  time.  On  the  contrary,  the 
polished  prettinesses  of  the  Diisseldorf  artists  filled 
galleries  of  their  own,  and  had  a  ready  sale,  whilst 
in  the  South  many  filled  their  walls  with  elaborate 
copies  from  the  old  masters.  Native  talent  has  made 
prodigious  strides  since  then. 

On  Thanksgiving  Day — I  believe,  always  fixed  for 
the  last  Thursday  of  November,  on  this  occasion  the 
25th — I  tested  my  powers  of  perambulation,  but  I 
found,  like  the  gentleman  returning  home  after  ex- 
cessive potations,  it  was  not  so  much  the  length  as  the 

breadth  of  the  way 
that  was  fatiguing. 
The  perpetual  zig- 
zagging from  one 
object  or  place  of 
interest  to  another 
makes  the  journey 
from  end  to  end  of 
Broadway  no  small 
effort. 

From  some  per- 
verse feeling  I 
longed  for  a  mo- 
ment to  be  whisked 
off  in  one  of  the 
numerous  well- 


THANKSGIVING  DAY 


53 


appointed  private  carriages  which  wait  patiently  at 
houses  whilst,  the  owners  are  calling,  and  the  smart 
black  coachman  and  his  companion  sit  on  the  box- 
seat  in  well-drilled  immutability. 

Hotels  in  eveiy  stage  of  incompleteness — such  as 
the  "  Lafarge,"  then  with  gaping  brick  walls  and  no 
frontage,  only  posters  with  prospective  enjoyments 
held  forth  of  every  description,  as  per  sketch  (amongst 
them  the  Bateman  children  in  The  Young  Couple, 
whom  I  saw,  little  dreaming  that  here  were  to  be 
much-cherished  relatives,  and  the  "  Leah "  of  fame 
to  become  my  dear  brother's  wife  thereafter) — and 
fully-equipped  brand-new  resorts,  like  the  "  Metro- 
politan," with  covers  and  mitre-shaped  napkins  laid 
for  200  guests  seated  at  one  or  two  long  tables. 


54 


WITH   THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


A  row  of  negro  servants,  brush  in  hand,  used  to 
be  seen  sitting  on  a  bench  in  the  entrance  hall  of  the 
hotels.  As  the  visitors  came  down,  each  of  them,  in 
rotation,  seized  the  coat-collar  and  dusted  it,  flicking 
the  brush  over  the  w^hole  attire  of  the  owner,  who  was 


THE   HKI'MIIM;    1'KOI  KSS 


thus  made  smart  for  the  day.  Specialists,  such  as 
the  "  hat-negro "  and  the  "  elevator-man,"  were  at 
that  time  unknown,  and  are  quite  modern  develop- 
ments of  the  "help." 

Another  sumptuous  store  of  white  marble  was 
Stewart's  haberdashery  shop.  This  we  sketched  too ; 
but  the  sketch,  true  then,  is  no  longer  so ;  the  store 
and  the  goods  have  moved  up  town.  The  noble 


P  ROADWAY 


5S 


THE    BROADWAY 


owner's  body  has  been  snatched,  and,  I  regret  to  say, 
I  am  unaware  whether  lie  was  ever  recovered  from 
the  clutches  of  these  ghouls. 

At  right  angles  with  the  great  thoroughfare  is 
Wall  Street.  The  sketch  on  page  78  shows  its 
former  semblance,  with  overhead  telegraph  wires.  I 
recollect  going  up  one  of  the  stairs  of  a  house  in  it, 
and,  instead  of  finding  the  man  I  wanted,  I  saw  a 
scrap  of  paper  fastened  to  the  door  by  two  pins, 
stating  laconically — "  Gone  to  Europe ;  back  in  a 
few  days."  I  believe  this  is  not  a  bad  indication 
of  the  rapid  go-ahead  mode  of  business  here. 

Broadway  is  in  its  full  length  two  and  a  half  miles, 


56 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


extending  from  Union  Square  to  the  Battery,  and 
giving  the  gentleman-lounger  (the  Titmarshian  version 
of  the  French  flaneur)  a  very  fair  idea  of  the  city's 
trades,  hotels,  amusements,  bars,  etc.  New  to  us 
then,  but  familiarised  to  Cockney-land  by  its  adoption 
in  London,  was  the  labour-saving  system  of  com- 
bining in  one  person  the  conductor  and  driver  of 


THE   BROADWAY   OMNIBUS 


the  omnibus,  with  its  interior  intimation — "  Children 
taking  seats  full  fare."  In  order  to  fulfil  an  appoint- 
ment made  with  Barnum's  chief  business  agent, 
Mr.  Le  Grand  Smith,  to  meet  Baruum  at  his  museum, 
Thackeray  took  seats  in  one  of  these  popular  vehicles, 
fondly  fancying  we  should  go  in  a  straight  line.  But 
the  pavement  was  torn  up,  cobble  or  flint  stone 
making  way  for  granite  stones ;  soon  again,  the  wags 


SARNUM'S 


57 


asserted,  to  be  once  more  uprooted  to  insert  iron  rails. 
This  necessitated  such  constant  divergence  into  off- 
streets,  that  walking  was  obviously  a  speedier  method 
of  transit.  The  sunny  side  of  Broadway  was  bright 
and  cheerful,  the  sky  beautifully  blue  overhead,  and  a 
clear  atmosphere  so  exhilarating  to  the  spirits  that 
when  we  at  last  reached  and  entered  Barnum's 
museum  the  contrast  of  grime  and  gloom  there  per- 
vading— as  is  often  the  case  in  haunts  made  to  be 
viewed  by  gas-light — only  made  the  scene  more  than 
usually  dismal. 

There  were  stuffed  quadrupeds  in  plenty ;  there 
were  sallow  wax  figures,  prominent  amongst  which 
memory  recalls  the  groups  of  Lord  Byron,  surrounded 
by  his  Missolonghi  bodyguard  of  ferocious  Suliotes, 
arrayed  in  faded  tinselled  costumes;  also,  further  on, 
some  Chinese  notabilities  were  lying  prone,  with  their 
effigy  heads  off  their  shoul- 
ders, not,  as  is  too  often 
the  case  in  Celestial 
annals,  after  decapitation, 
but  here  only  temporarily 
deprived  of  their  head- 
pieces for  the  purposes  of 
cleaning.  English  relics, 
such  as  the  signed  copy 
of  "Magiia  Charta,"  and 


SEAL-TIGER 


58 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


BARNUIttV   MUSEUM 


the  huge  coach  which  once  bore  Queen  Adelaide  on 
gala  days,  were  conspicuous.  Two  semi-somnolent 
creatures  attracted  you — one  being  a  "  seal-tiger,"  roll- 
ing his  eyes  in  wonderment  at  such  matutinal  visitors, 
and  the  other  its  black  keeper,  whose  special  function  it 


BARNUM'S  59 

was  to  rouse  the  dormant  amphibian  lying  in  its  straw 
lair,  and  whose  eyes  also  revolved  in  the  gloom.  We 
had  used  up  these  sensations,  and  had  sat  down  in  a 
small  office  the  walls  of  which  were  hung  round  with 
daguerrotypes  of  General  Tom  Thumb  leaning  ma- 
jestically upon  the  shoulders  of  Barnum,  when  the 
latter  gentleman  entered  and  introduced  himself  to  us. 

This  interview  has  escaped  notice 
in  that  great  showman's  Memoirs. 
He  wished  for  Thackerayan  collabo- 
ration in  the  first  number,  then 
coming  out,  of  an  illustrated  paper 
in  imitation  of  the  London  News. 
And  who  knows  what  f  u  r  t  h  e  r 
developments  flitted  across  that  fertile 
brain  in  connection  with  the  Eneflish 

.  rr, 

authors  visit  to  America  ?  Thackeray 
said  he  wished  to  maintain  his  own  personal  independ- 
ence of  movement,  scarcely  compatible  with  the  big- 
drum  methods  involved  in  monster  speculative 
schemes.  He  courteously  declined  to  write  his  im- 
pressions. 

My  description  of  the  museum  refers  altogether  to 
that  of  forty  years  ago.  The  show  disappeared  in 
lambent  flames  one  day,  only  to  rise  up  elsewhere — a 
fate  shared  in  by  the  great  impresario's  palace  of 
"  Iranistau."  But  these  disasters  never  daunted  this 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


master-spirit.  Subsequently,  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  I 
happened  to  pass  by  the  museum,  which  was  thronged 
with  people  entering  it.  A  placard  was  put  up— 
"  Beware  of  Pickpockets  " — a  warning  not  needless,  as 
a  little  incident  which  I  witnessed  there  and  then 
seemed  to  show.  Sitting  on  a  stool  in  the  gangway 
was  a  purblind  sailor,  with 
his  c  o  p  p  e  r  -  b  o  x  on  his 
knees,  a  further  appeal  to 
the  charitable  being  a 
picture  of  a  ship  struck  by 
lightning,  the  same  flash 
depriving  him  of  his  sight. 
A  kind  passer-by  flung 
down  a  contribution,  which 
an  unscrupulous  thief 
tried  to  grab  hold  of,  when 
suddenly  a  little  terrier 
hidden  behind  the  blind 
man's  coat-tails  dashed  for- 
ward to  the  rescue,  and  discomfited  the  would-be 
purloiner. 

At  another  street-corner  of  Broadway  was  to  be 
seen  the  liquor-seller,  dealing  out  drinks,  chiefly  of 
soda-water  and  ginger-beer,  at  the  moderate  charge  of 
three  cents  per  tumbler ;  or,  taking  it  in  the  gross,  at 
the  reduced  rate  of  "forty  soda-water  tickets  for  a 


BARNUM'S  AGENT 


DRINKS 


til 


dollar,"  as  the  wayfarer  was  informed  by  a  placard. 
The  briskness  with  which  these  refreshing  beverages 
were  distributed,  gushing  through  brilliant  metallic 


dolphin-shaped  spouts,  evinced  their  popularity,  and 
must  have  been  highly  remunerative  to  this  bearded 
liquor-trader.  We  give  here  his  likeness  as  he  stood 
behind  his  open-air  bar. 


62  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

It   will   not   escape   the   acute    observer   that   this 
worthy  wears  a  chimney-pot  hat,  the  great  emblem  of 


JOHN  N.  GENIN'S  HAT  STORE 


equality,  and  hence  its  popularity  in  the  States.     Two 
years  before  this  time,  the  Jenny  Lind  furore  in  New 


THE  CHIMNEY-POT  03 

York  was  manifested  at  the  outset  by  a  tremendous 
rush  for  tickets  at  Mr.  Barnum's  gallery  in  Broadway. 
The  boxes  were  put  up  to  auction  to  the  highest 
bidder,  and,  to  the  horror  of  the  "  Swedish  Nightin- 
gale," she  noticed  suspended  over  her  own  private  box 
«i  gigantic-sized  broad-brim.  This  sacred  retreat  of 
the  prirna  donna  had  been  won,  as  highest  bidder,  by 
Mr.  Genin  (here  is  his  likeness),  the  great  hatter. 
The  moderate  outlay  of  140  dollars  had  secured  this 
splendid  advertisement.  Possibly  with  an  eye  to  fur- 
thering the  headgear  trade,  and  with  his  manifest  love 
for  large  headpieces,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Thackeray, 
expressing  his  wish  to  acknowledge  his  indebtedness 
to  the  author  for  the  pleasure  derived  from  perusing  his 
works  by  presenting  him  with  a  hat,  also  stating  that 
he  had  an  uncomfortable  feeling  in  the  reflection  that 
the  author  could  receive  no  benefit  from  the  purchase 
of  his  books,  and  asking  to  discharge  his  part  of  the 
national  debt  by  furnishing  his  head  with  all  external 
ornament  it  might  require  whilst  in  his  country.  I 
quite  forget  whether  the  wish  was  acceded  to  by 
Thackeray,  but,  as  a  salve,  I  fancy  he  asked  me  to 
have  my  measure  taken  in  his  stead.  The  wonderful 
instrument  for  measuring  the  cranium — which  I  first 
saw  here — was  applied  to  my  occiput  and  frontal  bone ; 
but,  alas!  when  the  hat  was  produced,  my  bumps  or 
something  else  proved  rebellious,  and  I  was  scared  at 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


TAKING    YOFR    MEASURE 


seeing  my  personal  appearance  thus,  when  looking  in 
the  glass. 

This  machine  is  of  Italian  invention,  is  manu- 
factured in  Paris,  and  is 
known  as  the  "  conformateur." 
It  has  been  improved  upon  of 
late  years. 

It  may  be  added  that  a 
reference  to  the  later  American 
preface  written  for  the  reprints 
of  his  works  by  Thackeray, 
showed  conclusively  that  the 
worthy  hatter  was  in  error  in 

attributing  niggardliness  to  the  American  publishers, 
who,    on    the    contrary,    are    there     stated    to    have 
behaved      most      handsomely, 
especially  the  Messrs.  Appleton 
firm. 

Whilst  on  the  subject  of 
reprints,  and  his  lament  at 
the  mutilation  of  some  stories, 
such  as  the  omission  of  the 
first  chapter  in  the  "  Little 
Dinner  at  TimminsV  (sup- 
posed by  some  to  be  due 
to  its  phrasing,  as  to  "  Lady 
Bungay  weighing  two  of  Blanche,  even  when  she 


THE  RESULT 


AMERICAN  REPRINTS  65 

is  not  in  the  f ,"  as  some  wag  hinted),  or, 

worse  still,  the  unearthing  some  of  his  early  bant- 
lings which  he  wished  buried  in  oblivion,  it  may 
now  be  said  that  the  author  was  too  severe  upon 
himself,  and  that  we  now  like  to  have  these  recon- 
dite fugitive  pieces  brought  to  light  once  more,  as 
has  been  the  case  lately  with  some  such  by  a  lit- 
erary society  of  our  own,  though  only  for  private 
circulation. 

Though  somewhat  out  of  proper  sequence  of  time, 
it  may  be  here  added  that  the  whole  series  of  red- 
covered  little  books  was  brought  back  to  England, 
and,  on  explanation  to  the  Liverpool  Customs  agent, 
suffered  to  be  retained,  being  thereafter  a  useful 
record  to  consult  en  lloc  when  questions  arose  as  to 
what  to  publish  or  what  to  omit  in  this  country  in 
future  editions. 

The  next  emporium  of  the  book-trade  in  New  York 
is  Messrs.  Harpers',  where  we  penetrated  into  the 
inner  or  business  sanctum,  and,  when  seated,  after  the 
usual  amenities  and  introductory  greeting  were  over, 
we  had  leisure  to  scan  the  shrewd  features  of  Mr. 
James  Harper,  then  chief  director  of  this  great  pub- 
lishing house.  The  other  brother-partners  we  did  not 
see  at  this  time — indeed,  the  apartment  was  purposely 
small  and  snug,  not  admitting  of  large  receptions  and 
of  general  converse.  The  sketch  gives  the  aspect  of 

5 


66 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


the  place,  on  the  shelves  being  conspicuous  the 
Thackerayan  reprints  and  other  popular  authors. 
Presently  a  lithe  little  girl  came  in,  and  was  formally 
introduced  by  the  father  to  Thackeray.  He  shook 


AT  HARPERS' 


hands  with  her,  and,  smiling,  said,  "  So  this  is  a 
'  pirate's '  daughter,  is  it  ? "  an  appellation  which 
tickled  the  enterprising  publisher's  sense  of  humour 
into  an  approving  grin.  Thackeray  ventured  to  ask 
him  whose  name  stood  foremost  in  popularity  in  book 
sales  in  the  United  States.  He  good-naturedly  took 
down  a  ponderous  ledger,  turned  up  the  leaves  at 


"HARPERS'"  <57 

letter  J,  and  said,  "  George  Payne  Rainsford  James 
heads  the  list,  far  ahead  of  any  other  author,  as  you 
can  judge  for  yourself  by  glancing  at  the  number  of 
his  books  sold.  He  turns  out  a  novel  every  six 
months,  and  the  success  is  always  the  same,  and 
tremendous."  This  was  an  "eye-opener,"  to  use  a 
trans-Atlantic  phrase.  When  asked  to  explain  the 
reason  of  this  immense  hold  upon  the  public,  the 
reply  was  prompt :  "  The  main  reason  is  that  his  ro- 
mances can  always  be  safely  placed  upon  the  family 
table,  with  the  certainty  that  no  page  will  sully  or 
call  the  blush  to  the  cheek  of  any  member  of  the 
household."  Well  was  he  named  in  former  days 
by  Thackeray,  "  that  teeming  parent  of  romance." 
There  was,  however,  a  rift  in  his  literary  lute. 
Though  Consul  at  that  time  at  Norfolk,  Virginia  (a 
place  omitted  from  our  wanderings),  the  fact  that  in 
some  early  performance  he  had  faintly  hinted  his  dis- 
approval of  slavery — this  alone  made  the  worthy 
Norfolkians  hostile,  and  presently  he  exchanged  the 
States  for  Venice,  the  only  place  where  he  could  not  de- 
scry two  muffled  cavaliers  ascending  a  hill  on  horseback. 
The  Harper  firm  had  launched  the  monthly 
bearing  their  name,  a  year  or  two  before  this  time,  on 
its  tide  of  success.  This  caused  others  to  follow  the 
same  course,  with  less  satisfactory  results,  ending  by 
crippling  for  long  days  those  connected  with  them. 


os 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


O.  W.    CURTIS 


This  was  the  case  with  Putnam's  Monthly,  which  was 
delightful  reading  in  its  first  years.  Here  is  the 
profile  of  G.  W.  Curtis,  its 
brilliant  editor.  When  we 
knew  him  he  had  hyacinthine 
locks  and  a  shaven  face,  ex- 
changed in  later  years  for  a 
white  -  bearded  physiognomy. 
I  regretted  to  see  his  name 
in  a  recent  New  York  obituary 
notice.  He  had  paid  a  .graceful 
tribute  to  Thackeray,  recalling 
these  social  pleasures  in  America,  in  the  first  volume 
of  his  periodical. 

Boston,  the  Athens  of  America,  and  nursery  of 
many  illustrious  scribes,  now  claimed  to  have  its 
lecturing  innings  also.  So  thither  we  went,  making- 
raids,  besides,  on  neighbouring  capitals.  One  of  these 
was  forty-four  miles  off  by  rail,  i.e.,  Providence,  Rhode 
Island.  The  journey  was  easy,  the  audience  large 
and  appreciative.  This  was  on  December  22nd,  when 
nights  were  getting  chilly.  It  was  therefore  a  little 
rough  upon  those  fond  of  their  cheerful  cigar,  to 
be  compelled,  as  most  of  them  were,  to  content  them- 
selves with  a  discussion  on  the  benefits  conferred  upon 
that  State  by  liquor  laws  prohibiting  the  sale  of 
alcoholic  drinks.  Everybody,  I  noticed,  went  to  bed 


AT  BOSTON 


69 


early.  I  only  sketched  a  pair  of  bluchers,  whose 
shadow  was  cast  upon  the  sleeper's  room-door  outside, 
at  the  hotel.  I  can  therefore  only  mention  Provi- 
dence apropos  de  bottes. 

Boston  did  not  resent  coming  in  second  on  the  list. 
On   the  contraiy,  with   evident   heartiness  and  an  air 


fcc.u.-*  n^u«— /a' 


of  literary  confraternity,  Thackeray  was  welcomed  and 
relished,  as  he  had  been  by  the  select  and  cultured 
audiences  of  his  own  country.  A  few  cantankerous 
members  of  the  press  were  adverse,  'tis  true ;  but  they 
may  be  pardoned,  as  they  were  the  originating  cause 
of  the  amusing  lucubration  sent  by  Thackeray  to 
Frasers  Magazine  (appearing  in  January,  1853),  which 
was  a  renewal  of  his  old  bantering  reviews  in  that 
publication.  Without  telling  anyone  in  the  States 
that  he  had  written  it,  without  having  his  name  affixed 


70  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

to  it,  when  it  came  to  the  United  States,  ten  days 
after,  it  was  at  once  recognised  as  his,  and  was  re- 
ceived with  good-hunioured  laughter  by  some,  but  by 
others  as  an  unpleasant  scarification  of  the  minor 
penny-a-lining  fraternity.  . 

To  while  away  the  leisure  moments,  we  paid 
several  visits  to  the  museum  of  pictures  in  Boston. 
Thackeray  was  much  struck — as,  indeed,  must  everyone 
be — by  the  superb  portraits  of  General  "Washington 
and  Mrs.  Washington  by  Gilbert  Stuart.  They  seem 
to  have  their  charm  increased  by  their  unfinished  state, 
the  background  being  only  partially  rubbed  in.  I  asked 
the  committee,  through  their  complaisant  secretary, 
Mr.  C.  Folsom,  to  allow  me  to  copy  them,  as  I  thought 
the  future  author  of  "  The  Virginians  "  would  like  to 
have  these  faces  before  him  in  Europe.  See  how 
intentions  are  baffled  !  I  painted  these,  working  often 
during  closing-time,  by  special  grace.  I  presented  them 
to  Thackeray  in  New  York  (he  had  left  me  behind  at 
Boston  to  give  finishing-touches),  when,  lo  !  the  great 
compliment  was  paid  me  of  asking  to  have  these 
copies  copied.  Thackeray's  friend,  Mr.  Began,  whose 
friendship  we  had  made  on  board  the  boat  coming 
across  the  Atlantic,  took  charge  of  them  for  that 
purpose ;  and  it  was  only  years  afterwards,  and 
long  after  the  owner's  sad  departure,  that  an  oppor- 
tunity occurred  of  sending  them  back  through  the 


AT   THE   MKI.ODKON,    BOSTON 


72  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

instrumentality  of  Thackeray's  daughter  and  her  hus- 
band, Mr.  Leslie  Stephen,  the  distinguished  author, 
when  on  a  visit  to  the  States. 

It     is     not     without     diffidence    I     mention    the 
name   of   Washington  Allston,  whose   reputation  was 


CUSTOM   HOUSE,    BOSTO 


tremendous  in  his  day.  Here,  in  this  museum,  was 
his  huge  composition  of  "  Belshazzar's  Feast " — left 
incomplete,  it  is  true,  yet  sufficiently  forward  to  show 
the  painter's  ultimate  aim  and  intention.  There  is 
a  certain  Venetian  glow  and  mastery  of  colour  in  it 


WASHINGTON  ALLSTON  73 

which  attracts,  but  nothing  can  justify  the  intro- 
duction of  such  a  foreground  group  as  seen  there,  of 
which  the  faces  border  on  the  grotesque.  It  is  in  the 
art  essays  he  wrote,  in  his  genial  conversation,  and 
in  his  able  correspondence,  we  must  seek,  in  order  to 


realise   his   hold   upon   his   time.     We  give   here  the 
rough  indication  of  the  group  alluded  to. 

There  is  more  sweet  pleasure  derivable  from  small, 
unpretending  canvases  in  the  same  collection  than  in 
ambitious  compositions.  Here,  for  example,  in  sober 
greys  and  in  sad  feature,  is  the  little  figure  of  the  ill- 
fated  authoress,  Margaret  Fuller-Ossoli,  deftly  done 


74  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

by  Thomas  Hicks.  He  was  a  pleasant  boon-com- 
panion at  the  "  Century "  symposium  and  elsewhere. 
Besides  painting  people,  chiefly  celebrities,  he  used 
to  mimic  them  amusingly.  His  representation  of 
Daniel  Webster  the  orator  was  very  whimsical. 
Whilst  delivering  a  mock  speech  of  his  he  would 
take  out  a  huge  red  Bandanna  handkerchief,  and 
unfolding  it  deliberately  would,  after  many  nose- 
pullings,  at  last  recover  the  thread  of  his  discourse, 
and  start  afresh  on  ponderous  sentences.  It  was  said 
to  be  a  good  skit  on  the  departed  statesman's  method 
of  speech. 

The  proverbially  sudden  changes  of  temperature 
in  the  States  now  were  realised :  one  day  it  was  balmy, 
the  next  was  frosty  and  snowing — with  pantomime 
rapidity  of  altering  scenes,  we  had  the  whole  popu- 
lation sleighing.  The  juvenile  portion  at  Boston 
preferred  "  coasting."  The  old  edition  of  Webster 
contained  this  description  of  it :  "  The  sport  of  sliding 
down  a  hill-side  upon  sleds  or  sledges  in  winter  (used 
in  the  Eastern  States,  and  also  in  New  Brunswick, 
where  the  application  of  the  word  may  possibly 
have  originated  amongst  the  Acadians — from  cote,  old 
French  coste,  a  hillside)." 

The  little  lads  are  seen  careering  down  the  slopes, 
helter-skelter.  In  the  distance  is  seen  Faneuil  Hall, 
not  the  original  "  Cradle  of  Liberty,"  as  it  was  called, 


76  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

built  by  that  patriot  of  Huguenot  descent,  but  the 
second  structure,  reared  when  the  first  was  burned 
down. 

I  had  by  this  time  finished  the  two  portrait  copies 
of  General  and  Mrs.  Washington.  I  packed  them  up, 
and  brought  them  to  New  York  for  Thackeray's  kind 
acceptance. 

Before  leaving  Boston  I  peeped  into  some  of  its 
public  buildings  and  institutions  ;  one  of  these  was  the 
Boston  Sessions.  I  forget  what  exact  business  was 
transacted  at  this  court  of  justice.  The  Sessions  are 
generally  held  for  granting  licences  to  innkeepers,  etc., 
and  for  laying  out  highways.  They  answer  seemingly 


AT  THE  BOSTON  SESSIONS 


IN  THE  MERCHANTS'  EXCHANGE,   NEW  YORK         77 

to  our  petty  sessions,  though  here  one  magistrate 
seems  to  suffice.  A  legal  document  is  being  read, 
which  does  not  seem  to  interest  the  public  at  large. 


They  in  preference  gathered  in  the  corridors  and 
other  precincts,  not  choosing  to  stay  in  court,  which, 
to  tell  the  truth,  like  others  I  know  of,  was  close  and 
stuffy. 

After  Bostonian  amenities  came  round  once  more 
the  mingled  bustle  and  high  pressure  of  New  York 
amusements  and  sights. 


78 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


At  right  angles  with  Broadway  was  Wall  Street, 

the      often  -  de- 

scribed  business 
centre  of  New 

York,  of  which 
the  sketch  gives 
some  notion  as 
it  existed  at 
that  time.  As 
you  entered  the 
Merchants'  Ex- 
change in  that 
thoroughfare 
you  heard  the 
voices  of  eager 
auctioneers, 
seen  gesticulat- 
ing, each  of 
them  in  their 
individual  stalls 
fixed  circularly 
round  the  inner 
Rotunda.  Map 
in  hand,  he 
pointed  out  the 

exact  locality  of  the  estate  being  put  up  for  sale.    That 
preliminary  over,  he  would  take  the  bids  thus  :  —  "  120 


A  UCTIONEERING 


dollars "  offered ;  an  advance 
to  "  150  dollars"  is  bid  ;  and 
after  increasing  volubility 
the  hammer  conies  down, 
and  successive  properties  are 
disposed  of  in  the  same 
manner.  This  went  on  till 
the  clock  of  Trinity  Church, 
hard  by,  struck  three  o'clock, 
when  the  whole  throng  dis- 
persed, and  with  a  bare 
interval  I  found  myself  in 
comparative  solitude.  Only 
one  tardy  clerk  was  at  his 

desk  casting  up  his  accounts,  and  a  negro  sweeper 
was  raising  dust-clouds  with  his  broom.  Other 
open-air  estate  agents  are  seen,  in  modest  rivalry 
to  Wall  Street  appraisers,  trying  to  sell  estates  by 
placarding  the  same  in  the  streets.  Here,  for  ex- 
ample, was  a  lad  dressed  as  a  clown,  holding  a 
board  on  a  pole.  The  advertisement  ran  thus :  "  A 
house  and  lot  for  two  hundred  dollars;  a  chance  for 
a  home  for  life  at  the  village  of  Maspeth/'  Neither 
the  motley  wear  nor  the  prospect  of  having  a  rural 
retreat  in  Long  Island  seemed  to  fascinate  the  crowd, 
which  passed  on  rapidly,  and  heedless  of  such  tempt- 
ing opportunities  of  investment.  Perhaps  the  vocifera- 


80 


WITH  THACKERAY 


AMERICA 


tions   of   the  Wall   Street  mart   were  fatal  omissions 
here. 

Close  by    these    open-air   monetary  transactions,   a 
visit  to  a  neighbouring  jeweller's    store    in  Broadway 


(   I.OMNG    TIME 


will  reveal  to  you  how  soon  gold  becomes  specie.  The 
courteous  trader  informed  me — what,  indeed,  the  sign 
over  the  central  housetop  had  certified  in  a  certain 
emblematic  way,  by  representing  an  eagle  sustaining 
in  its  beak  a  tiny  repeater — that  either  Australian  or 
Californian  lucky  diggers  will  come  into  their  store, 


A   CAPITALIST 


to  all  appearance  dire  tatter- 
demalions. They  at  once 
proceed  to  haul  out  of  the 
recesses  of  their  garments  a 
gold  nugget  or  two,  which 
is  weighed,  and  soon  bartered 
for  a  lump  sum  of  money. 
I  remember  the  firm's  twin 
name,  "Ball  and  Black."  Per 
contra,  no  ore  of  any  kind, 
I  should  say,  could  be  found 
on  the  body  of  the  negro 


BUck 


A    UOCK-LOAFE1 


whom  I  saw,  as  I  came 
out  of  the  goldsmiths1 
shop,  listlessly  sitting 
upon  the  chain  encircling 
the  City  Hall  Park,  smok- 
ing his  weed  contentedly : 
a  dock-loafer,  probably. 

Amongst  the  promi- 
nent figures  of  New  York 
at  this  season  was  a 
claimant  to  the  Bourbon 
throne,  who  pretended  to 
be  the  actual  Louis  XVII., 
who  had  escaped  from  the 
Temple  during  the  French 


82  WITH   THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

Revolutionary  turmoil.  His  real  name  was  the  Rev. 
Eleazar  Williams ;  his  usual  occupation  was  that  of  a 
missionary  amongst  the  Canadian  Indians.  For  their 
benefit  he  had  translated  the  Bible  into  Mohawk ;  ill- 
natured  people  hinted  that  he  was  himself  descended 
from  some  Iroquois  chief,  a  supposition  justified  by 
his  reddish-brown  complexion  and  features.  The 
humour  of  the  hour  was,  however,  to  greet  him  with 
mock  obeisances ;  and  the  intrepid  went  so  far  as  to 
ask  to  see  the  documents  authenticating  his  royal 
parentage,  which  he  invariably  brought  with  him 
under  one  arm,  whilst  in  his  other  hand  he  grasped 
—not  a  sceptre,  but  the  homely  gingham.  "  Our 
Dauphin  "  was  the  title  he  went  by  familiarly  in 
New  York.  It  must  be  supposed  that  setting  up  as 
a  Pretender  pays ;  there  are  so  many  of  them.  Ten 
years  before,  a  couple  appeared  in  the  United  States, 
according  to  Bacourt's  amusing  Memoirs,  pretending 
tov  be  descendants  of  the  Chevalier  Bayard,  although 
that  hero  never  was  married  !  These  were,  of  course, 
exceptional  instances  of  misdirected  hospitality — the 
base  coin  which,  in  spite  of  careful  scrutiny,  will  get 
foisted  amidst  the  pure  gold  of  society. 

Washington  Irving,  who,  for  abbreviation's  sake, 
was  known  as  "  Old  Knick,"  from  his  early  work 
— "  The  History  of  New  York,  by  Diedrieh  Knicker- 
bocker " — was  the  most  lionised  of  the  notabilities  we. 


THE  REV.   ELEAZAR    WILLIAMS 


83 


^  LION'S  LM  KM: 


A    BOURBON    PKETHNDKR 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


met,  whether  at  balls  or  elsewhere.  There  was  little 
sense  of  lassitude  visible  in  his  cheerful  face  as  he 
sat  there  chatting  with  the  hostess,  in  preference 
choosing  a  quiet  nook  away  from  the  dancers  and 
fiddlers.  He  has  in  published  letters  confided,  with 

mock  modesty,  to  us 
"that  the  dances  then 
in  vogue  put  me  out 
of  countenance,  and 
are  not  such  as  a 
gentleman  of  my  years 
should  witness."  This 
assumed  prudery  is  as 
amusing  as  were  the 
numerous  accessories 
which  temporarily 
hid  the  graceful  move- 
ment of  the  marble  nymph  near  him — in  the  shape 
of  hats  or  piles  of  supper-plates  and  champagne  bottles. 
I  seem  to  hear  now  his  mellow,  chatty  voice,  not 
without  a  dash  of  huskiness  in  it,  due  to  age,  when- 
ever he  came  for  a  quiet  gossip  with  Thackeray  at 
the  "Clarendon."  He  would  then,  albeit  venerated 
by  his  friend  Charles  Dickens,  not  conceal  that, 
beside  loyally  reciprocated  friendship,  he  had  what 
the  French  call  a  "tooth,"  and  we  a  "grudge," 
against  him,  for  embittering  the  two  kindred 


AT  A  NEW   YORK  SOIREE 


85 


countries,  his  own  and  England,  against  each  other. 
This  was,  of  course,  before  the  Bozzian  second 
visit,  in  which  every  misunderstanding  was  con- 


THE    REFRESHMENT   ROOM 


doned,    and    the    hatchet    buried     in  oblivion    and 
dollars. 

The    portraits   which   I    have   seen  of   "  Geoffrey 

Crayon,   Gent0-,"   as    a    rule    give   one  his    youthful 


86 


WITH   THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


features  and  appearance.  I  should  feel  regret  if,  by 
giving  his  semblance  at  this  time,  I  were  infringing 
a  tacit  desire  of  his  own  not  to  be  limned  in  his 
declining  years.  One  day — it  was  on  January  17th, 
my  diary  states — we  met  him,  when  ourselves  going 
from  New  York  to  Philadelphia,  when,  stowing  away 

a  supply  of  newspapers 
which  he  had  bought, 
he  briskly  conversed 
the  wThole  time  till 
we  parted  at  the  final 
railway  station.  He 
was  going  to  consult 
archives  at  Washing- 
ton, where  we  again 
met  him. 

In  the  same  way 
Thackeray  met,  a  few 
days  after,  in  the  rail- 
way cars,  another  interesting  figure,  that  of  Thomas 
Francis  Meagher,  who  whiled  away  the  tedium  of 
the  journey  by  telling  us  of  his  thrilling  adventures 
and  plucky  experiences. 

It  was  interesting  to  see  this  impromptu  meeting  of 
the  now  genial  rebel  and  the  author  of  the  "  Battle 
of  Limerick,"  written  in  Punch  in  1848,  and  to  think 
of  its  well-known  lines : — 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MEAOHER  87 

"  Then  we  summoned  to  our  board 
Young  Mengher  of  the  sword ; 
'Tis  he  will  sheathe  that  battle-axe  in  Saxon  gore." 

Needless  to  add  that  these  were  not  adverted  to. 
But  the  talk  was  of  his  success  as  a  lecturer;  of  his 
discourses,  which  lasted  full  two  years  in  delivery ; 
of  Australia ;  and  of  the  ever-present  "  Irish  Ques- 
tion." He  afterwards  became  an  officer  in  the  North 
and  South  War.  He  met  an  untimely  death  by  falling 
from  the  steamer's  deck  in  the  Upper  Missouri,  in  the 
year  1867,  and  thus  ended  an  eventful  career. 

One  of  the  incidents  which  delighted  his  inter- 
locutor was  heard  subsequently.  Someone,  in  the 
presence  of  Meagher,  spoke  disrespectfully  of  Her 
Majesty  the  Queen,  which  so  roused  the  anger  of 
the  rebel  that,  but  for  friendly  interference,  he 
would  have  given  the  unmannerly  lout  a  sound 
thrashing  ! 

The  love  of  perpetual  motion  is  seen  not  only 
in  the  cars,  but  in  the  very  popular  sport  of  sleigh- 
ing, somewhat  emulating  that  sense  of  rapid  transit 
through  streets.  Throughout  the  Northern  States  the 
barometers  fell  in  a  day,  and  the  bright  balmy  atmo- 
sphere gave  way  to  cold  weather  about  mid-January; 
and  on  three  successive  days — 12th,  13th,  and  14th — 
Broadway  became  alive  with  brisk  sleighs  of  different 
sizes  and  shapes,  after  a  good  snowfall.  The  main 


88 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


features,  however,  were  the  huge  sleigh-stages,  or 
open  cars  on  "runners,"  four  rough-shod  horses 
drawing  them  at  good  rattling  speed  to  the  tune  of 
jingling  bells,  the  conductor  meanwhile  going  round 
on  a  projecting  wooden  cradle  and  collecting  the 
fares.  The  sight  is  very  pretty  and  exhilarating. 


?-0=-— JJtou 
•<  fl  in       •-]  n   n     «n.n«li 


The  intrepid  smoker  whiffs  as  if  he  were  in  a  bar- 
room. There  is  a  drawback,  to  which  the  newspapers 
direct  attention,  to  this  effect : — 

"DANGEROUS  SPORT. — Filling  omnibus  sleighs  with  big  lumps 
of  snow,  ice,  and  street  filth,  and  hurling  them  into  other  sleighs, 
knocking  down  men,  women,  and  children,  is  shameful  and  dangerous. 
Some  of  the  guilty  parties  were  stage-conductors  themselves." 

The  defenceless  position  of  those  being  whisked 
along  rapidly  makes  the  usually  permissible  game 


SLEIGHING 


89 


of  snowballing  indefensible  here,  as  the  essential 
condition  of  being  able  to  retaliate  is  impossible. 
Few  like  target-practice  if  themselves  the  circle 
aimed  at.  The  old  and  feeble  folk  naturally  retire 
into  private  life  on  these  occasions.  Amongst  them 
was  Washington  Irving,  who  put  off  a  journey  for  a 
few  days  until,  by  the  change  of  temperature,  the 


wayfarer  ran  no  risks    of    being  either  pelted  or  as- 
sailed by  rheums. 

It  was  pleasant  to  witness  the  repression  of  these 
escapades  by  those  anxious  to  redress  grievances.  I 
believe  the  press  to  be  so  in  harmony  with  order 
in  the  States  that,  attention  being  directed  to 
misdeeds,  they  were  sure  to  receive  the  immediate 
supervision  of  the  police.  These  officials  were  attired 
in  coats  of  a  light  pepper  colour,  not  attracting  much 
attention  from  the  eye;  but  the  grip  was  sufficient 
when  you  looked  at  the  limbs  ensconced  in  them. 


90 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


I  went  to  see  the  Tombs  prison,  in  Centre  Street, 
then  open  to  anyone  on  payment  of  a  trifling  con- 
sideration. Here  is  given  its  grim  exterior  elevation 
only.  The  inside  is  omitted,  as  I  found  it  so  terribly 
depressing  to  look  at.  Moreover,  a  reference  to  the 
description  given  in  Dickens's  "  American  Notes " 


THE   TOMB*    PH1SON 


will  be  found  all-sufficing.  The  identical  negro 
seemed  to  have  remained  there  as  described  by  him, 
warming  himself  in  the  chill  lower  storey  of  the 
building.  The  watching  warders,  sitting  on  their 
iron-grated  galleries,  as  they  do  at  our  Wormwood 
Scrubs  prison,  still  sat  there  night  and  day,  as  I  was 


AN  EXECUTION  MORNING 


informed.      A    pervading    mildewy   smell,    the   result 
of  the  low  level  of  the  foundations,  was  yet  a  feature 


AN  EXECUTION'    MOKMNIi   OUTSIDE  THE  TO 


of  the  place,  from  which  you  gladly  escaped  into  the 
fresher  open  air. 


92  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

Grouped  round  the  main  building  were  seen  stalls 
for  apple-women,  German  grog-shops  and  lager-beer 
sellers,  the  latter  resorted  to  by  teamsters,  who 
followed  the  example  of  Wordsworth's  waggoner, 
and  left  their  horses  and  their  vehicles  to  linger 

O 

driverless,  whilst  frowsy  brats  grinned  at  their  own 
faces  as  seen  distorted  in  the  shiny  panels  of  the 
vehicle. 

Presently,  whilst  sketching,  I  noticed  a  curricle, 
which  was  pulled  up  at  the  prison-gate,  disgorging 
a  drunkard,  who  went  and  joined  the  roistering 
band  of  casuals  I  had  seen  inside  in  the  yards  await- 
ing the  expiration  of  their  few  days  of  enforced 
sobriety.  They  are  known  as  the  "five  days'  men," 
the  prison  cicerone  informed  one. 

On  other  occasions,  though  happily  few,  execu- 
tions take  place  inside  the  prison  yard.  The  expect- 
ant crowd  outside  consisted  of  loafers  and  people 
unable  to  obtain  an  entrance,  owing  to  the  crush 
for  seats  or  standing-room. 

I  got  into  what  is  called  a  "  Whitehall  boat "  with 
a  stout  sculler,  who  soon  rowed  me  over  the  half- 
mile  expanse  of  water  dividing  Governor's  Island 
from  the  Battery,  and  thus  I  was  enabled  to  see  the 
dress  of  regulars — recruits  in  this  instance — and  their 
quarters  in  Fort  Columbus.  Few  cared,  it  seems,  to 
explore  this  stronghold,  an  exception  being,  I  was 


GOVERNOR'S  ISLAND  93 

told,  on  the  part  of  officials.  General  Pierce  had 
come  over  in  this  very  skiff  a  few  days  before,  so 
the  waterman  averred;  but  whether  with  a  view  to 
impress  me  with  this  adventitious  importance,  or 
of  enforcing  extra  payment  in  consequence,  I  was 


GOVEKNOK  f    l-l  AM> 


left  in  doubt.  As  I  landed  on  the  granite  steps 
leading  up  the  bankside,  my  friend  was  told  by  the 
sentinel  to  wait  there  till  my  return,  an  order  which 
evidently  he  received  with  an  ill-grace,  whilst  a  mere 
Britisher  was  allowed  to  ramble  about  at  large  and  to 
sketch  unmolested.  Though  not  promising  subjects 
for  the  pencil,  the  few  verandah-girt  houses  looked 
as  if  the  slightest  mortar-practice  would  bring  them 
down  with  a  run,  and  that  the  released  support- 
ing timbers  might  be  helpfully  utilized  as  floating 
spars  in  a  tide-way.  This  nocturnal  mode  of  deser- 
tion to  the  neighbouring  Brooklyn  shore  was,  it  was 


94  WITH  TIIACKKRA  Y  IN  AMERICA 

whispered,  not  at  all  an  unusual  event  on  the  part  of 
many  finding  a  trimestrial  practice  of  the  goose-step 
over-irksome.  The  inside  court  resembled  somewhat 
that  of  the  four-cornered  hotel  yard,  whilst  outside 
of  it  the  recruits  were  preparing  for  future  vegetable 
growth  by  spreading  manure  over  the  fields.  I  got 
back  to  the  boat,  which  deftly  avoided  innumerable 
lighters,  ferry-boats,  and  pleasure  yachts.  I  pacified 
the  oarsman  with  a  sufficient  payment  for  my  visit  to 
this  fortified  post. 

Although  statistics  show  that  during  the  Civil 
"War  over  t\vo  millions  of  soldiers  were  then  under 
arms  (mostly  volunteers,  with  the  exception  of  fifty 
thousand  regulars),  comparatively  few  of  these  were 
to  be  seen  parading  or  perambulating  the  streets 
in  the  fifties.  Exceptionally,  perhaps,  might  be  seen 
a  battalion  returning  from  drill — smart  and  well  set- 

C5 

up,  with  a  business-like  air.  The  rear  was  brought 
up  by  two  negro  files,  one  of  whom  carried 
the  major's  heavy  spotted  rug,  and  the  other  a 
wooden  ensign  on  a  pole.  Between  them  was  a 
diminutive  unfledged  recruit,  over  whose  shoulders 
was  slung  the  useful  water  canteen.  Those  I 
saw  were  called  "  Bow'ry  Boys,"  or  Democratic 
Guards. 

Another  band  of  volunteers,  i.e.,  the  Fire  Brigade, 
were  at  this  time  only  the  undeveloped  raw  material 


RETURN  FROM  DRILL  95 

for  what  has  since  then  been  made  into  a  most  efficient 
and  well-organised  department.  AVhat  was  then  a 
motley  band  of  a  poorly  disciplined  though  well- 
meaning  Salvage  Corps,  with  only  a  number  upon 
their  hats,  and  a  speaking-trumpet  in  hand,  as  badges 


VOLUNTEER?1  MAI 


of  their  extemporised  calling,  have,  I  now  under- 
stand,  self-propelling  steam-engines — going  through  the 
streets  at  a  smart  trot — made  by  the  Amoskeag  Com- 
pany, and  burning  houses  are  extinguished  without 


the    excessive    inundatini 


deluges    of    former 


days, 


9C  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

making   the    calamity,  it    was    said,  from  flooding  far 
greater  than  that   of  the  original   fire. 

Clinton  Hall,  with  little  architectural  pretension  as 
far  as  the  exterior  elevation  was  concerned — the  house 
where  the  Mercantile  Library  carried  on  its  useful 


BH      CLINTON  HALL.  «    ,- 

-'<%/      \k-  ____ __J  ,    \fl 


organisation — was  in  a  street  oft'  Broadway,  near  the 
Astor  House.  It  was  the  home,  I  believe,  of  the  first 
Governor  of  New  York,  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  and  hence 
called  Clinton  Hall.  The  surplus  funds  accruing 
from  the  lectures  are  invested  in  books,  thus  gradually 
increasing  the  clerks1  library.  MSS.  of  interest,  as 


THE  FIRE  BRIGADE 


97 


historical  documents  in  the  States,  are  also  acquired 
and  published ;  a  savings  bank  being  another  sound 
feature. 

New  Year's  Day  is  ushered  in  as  a  general  holiday, 
the  distinguishing  feature  being  its  devotion  more  es- 
pecially to  the  satisfying  of  the  young  folks.  Though 
Thackeray  was  in  Boston,  he  commissioned  me  to  dis- 
tribute the  proper  amount  of  bonbonnibrea,  which  I  did 
faithfully.  As  you  are  expected  to  call  personally,  and 
not  vicariously,  the  task,  though  pleasing,  becomes 
laborious  if  there  be  a  large  circle  of  acquaintanceship. 
It  was  a  great  relief  at  last  to  cease  perambulating, 
and  to  sit  down  at  the  hospitable  house  of  Mr.  Pell. 

7 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


The  next  day,  January  2nd,  I  left  New  York  for 
Philadelphia,  to  arrange  lecturing  matters.  The  change 
was  bracing,  and  the  scene  was  noble  in  its  grand 
simplicity,  as  the  sun  went  down  over  Jersey  City, 
whilst  I  was  crossing  in  the  ferry  from  Xew  York. 
It  was  on  a  fine  Sunday  afternoon,  and  the  red  flare 
brought  out  the  line  of  roofs,  topped — appropriately, 
on  the  Sabbath — by  its  solitary  steeple.  I  believe  the 
submarine  tunnel  is  fast  approaching  completion  here  ; 
a  great  convenience  doubtless,  but  it  will  mulct 
travellers  of  noble  vistas  in  cloudland  and  of  Venetian- 
looking  distances.  Gone,  too,  will  be  the  quaint 

figure  of  the  water- 
seller,  also  a  semi- 
Venetian  reminis- 
cence, as  this  Creole 
dealt  out  her 
tumblers  to  the 
thirsty  on  board  in 
the  saloon.  The 
Maine  liquor  law, 
in  full  force,  for- 
bade any  more 
exhilarating  liquid 
being  dispensed  to 
quench  thirst. 
Solids  also  are  sold. 


CANVAS-BACK    DUCKS 


OT1UU  CUM  DJGNITATE 


99 


Here  is  a  black  trader  (he  was  dressed,  I  recollect, 
in  a  deliciously  toned  pea-green  coat)  waiting  for 
customers  whilst  sitting  upon  the  central  steps  of  the 
ferry  crossing  the  Susquehanna.  His  specialty  was 


NEW*   ROOM.    PHILADELPHIA 


the  famous  canvas-back  duck,  sold,  as  he  announced, 
at  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  each.  This  favourite  bird 
feeds  upon  the  wild  celery  growing  on  islets  about  the 
bay,  whence  its  world-famous  flavour  and  delicacy. 

The    rest  of    our    journey    might     have    afforded 
matter  for   comment  to    those  liking    to   ponder  upon 


100  WITH   THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

the  futility  of  making  laws  which  cannot  he  enforced. 
Here  we  were  traversing  tracts  of  country  in  which 
penalties  are  supposed  to  be  meted  out  rigorously  to 
those  infringing  sobriety  ;  yet,  as  a  protest,  you 
heard  endless  cork-poppings,  and  occult  topers  might 
be  seen  taking  surreptitious  bottles  from  their  side- 
pockets  and  applying  them  to  their  throats  through- 
out their  short  travels.  These  unruly  spirits,  becoming 
confidential,  took  the  surrounding  company  into  their 
consultations  as  to  the  best  method  of  meeting  the 
coming  Caudle  lecturing  of  their  spouses,  which  they 
guessed  would  be  of  a  lively  kind,  after  having  had 
their  fling  at  New  York.  The  forecast  seemed  ex- 
hilarating to  the  company,  which  laughed  consumedly 
at  the  prospect  in  view.  One  non-abstainer  seemed 
sufficiently  primed  to  receive  any  Caudle  lecture  with 
equanimity.  I  reached  the  cosy  "  Girard  House  " 
quarters  at  Philadelphia,  escaping  with  pleasure  from 
downpouring  rain  outside. 


MKETINU   OF   FRIE 


CHAPTER  III 

Philadelphia — A  Quakers'  Meeting — Xegro  Disability — A  Historical 
Porch — W.  B.  Read— Washington — Lecture  on  "  Humour  and 
G'harity  "  at  New  York — Washington  and  Baltimore — Presidential 
Lev6e — The  Ericsson — The  Iron  Jackson — Congress. 

I  SOON,  next  morning,  engaged  a  lecturing  hull 
from  the  stout  good-humoured  caretaker  ;  and  after 
due  insertion  of  lecture  announcements  in  the  papers 
and  other  matters  therein-concerning,  I  rambled  over 
the  town,  which  had  a  pleasant  Quaker-like  cleanliness 
and  stateliness,  giving  it  a  physiognomy  of  its  own. 

When  one  is  tired  of  rambling,  there  is  always  the 
pleasant  reading-room  resource.  The  Ledger,  National 
Intelligencer,  and  the  Union,  which  are  the  names  seen 


102  WITH   THACKERAY  /iV  AMERICA 

upon  the  papers  the  two  readers  have  been  perusing 
(p.  99),  bring  back  to  mind  this  admirable  adjunct  of 
a  newsroom,  which  is  a  feature  of  all  American  hotels. 
They  were  salient  Philadelphian  organs  of  opinion, 
doubtless  exponents  of  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of 
the  Society  of  Friends,  to  which  these  twin  figures 
seemed  also  to  belong. 

Though  Philadelphia  had  no  statues  at  that  time, 
you  soon  gleaned  that  the  three  salient  figures  of  its 
history  were — William  Penn,  its  famed  founder ; 
Benjamin  Franklin  ;  and,  lastly,  the  wealthy  Bordeaux 
workman  Girard,  who  had  presented  the  town  with 
thirty  millions  of  francs  as  a  bequest. 

William  Penn  is  remembered  and  recalled  by 
endless  popular  announcements,  to  which  his  name  is 
attached. 

Exemplifying  this  hero-worship,  there  was  the 
awning  shading  the  hotel,  embellished  with  his  three- 
cornered  hat  and  wig;  the  hero  holding  his  famous 
treaty,  which  West's  picture  has  made  familiar. 
Franklin's  renowned  hand-printing  press  is  here. 
Washington's  chair — which  you  see  put  in  his  pictures, 
but  in  which,  characteristically,  he  is  never  seated — 
is  also  religiously  preserved  in  the  museum. 

Though  a  little  out  of  order  as  to  time,  here  may 
be  described  fitly  an  incident  connected  with  a  stay 
in  Philadelphia. 


A    MEETING   HOUSE 


103 


Whilst  sauntering  along  its  main  thoroughfare  on 
a  restful  Sunday  morning,  I  noticed  a  building,  sur- 
rounded by  gravelled  spaces,  walled  in  from  the  road, 
though  the  gateway  lay  invitingly  open.  The  air 
of  stillness  and  mystery  about  the  place,  and  the 
traveller's  scarce  pardonable  spirit  of  inqiiisitiveness, 
seemed  to  impel  me  to  go  in  and  solve  my  doubts. 


I  walked  up  steps  to  the  inner  door,  which  I  opened, 
when  I  found  myself  looking  from  an  elevated  plat- 
form down  on  an  assembled  but  mute  congregation  of 
men  on  one  side  and  women  on  the  other.  This  I,  of 
course,  saw  at  once  was  a  Quakers'  meeting.  I  closed 
the  door,  hoping  I  could  reach  a  seat  unnoticed, 
but  every  board  of  the  floor  creaked  to  my  tread,  and 
I  was  thankful  when  I  was  able  to  sit  down,  though 


104 


WITH   THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


not  a  soul  moved  or  turned  round  to  see  who  the 
intrude]'  was,  so  enwrapped  were  they  in  their  de- 
votions. An  elder,  after  an  interval,  got  up  and 
addressed  the  people  assembled,  sat  down  after  a 
brief  exordium,  and  without  any  apparent  signal 
everyone  got  up,  and  walked  away  and  dispersed. 
I  afterwards  made  this  a  subject  for  a  painting  from 
memory,  and  sent  it  to  the  Royal  Academy. 

More  negro-limning  engaged  me  as  I  left  Phila- 
delphia next  day  for  Baltimore.  It  was  not,  as  it 
turned  out,  a  cheerful  incident  which  I  was  to  cany 
out,  though  begun  without  any  idea  further  than  that 

of  an  ordinary 
passenger's  like- 
ness. It  happened 
thus.  On  seeing  a 
good  -  humoured 
negro  attired  in 
a  chimney-pot 
hat,  and  leaning 
upon  his  modest 
linen  bag  (possi- 
bly his  whole  be- 
longings),  the 
sight  was  so  novel 
I  sketched  him  ; 
but  presently  the 


.4.V  UNPLEASANT  INCIDENT  1Q5 

car-man  came  up  with  anger  in  his  countenance 
and  beckoned  him  away,  saying,  "  Get  into  the  first 
car,  sir — sitting  here  among  white  people,  indeed  !  " 
He  moved  away  as  told  ;  a  mother  clasping  her  infant, 
in  an  adjoining  cushioned  compartment,  looked  pity- 
ingly on  the  scene,  as  I  did  too.  I  now  saw  for  the 
first  time  an  ill-lighted  compartment  next  the  engine, 
in  which  were  already  ensconced  a  young  negro  and 
his  wife,  or  female  companion. 

Whilst  on  this  topic  I  may  mention  a  pathetic 
story  we  were  told  at  Baltimore  of  a  lax  white  trader, 
who,  besides  his  legitimate  offspring,  left  a  second 
family  of  dusky-coloured  children.  Not  knowing,  what 
was  a  fact,  that  he  was  insolvent,  he  left  them  free 
by  his  will.  The  creditors,  not  to  be  baulked,  sold 
these  little  mulattoes  as  slaves,  to  be  sent  down  South. 
Dire  war  has  done  this  good — that  such  fell  purposes 
can  never  more  be  carried  out  on  a  free  soil. 

After  the  tragic  piece  fitly  comes  the  cheery  inter- 
lude. As  such  may  be  here  inserted  the  letter  of 
invitation,  running  thus  : — 

"Baltimore,  First  M°.,  22.  1853. 
"E.  CROWE. 

"EsTEED-  FRIEND, — This  will  be  handed  thee  by  H.  Stone,  a  mem- 
ber of  our  Lecture  Committee.  In  case  thee  lias  not  written  A.  C. 
Rhodes,  Mr.  Stone  will  bear  to  us  any  communication  as  regards 
time  of  commencing  course,  etc. — Respectfully. 

"(Signed)    EDD-    M.    NKKDLES." 


106 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


Iii  pursuance  of  the  above  I  took  up  quarters  at 
Barnum's  comfortable  hotel  at  Baltimore.  Meeting  the 
committee  of  the  Mercantile  Society,  and  the  head  of 


the  committee,  Mr.  Needles  (a  good  name  for  a  sharp 
treasurer),  we,  after  little  difficulty,  arranged  terms, 
settled  the  time  of  coming,  etc.,  to  mutual  satisfaction, 

The  lectures  were  here  to  be  given  at  the  Univer- 
salist  Church,  and  from  the  preacher's  pulpit. 

I  give  the  appearance  of  the  streets  in  the  fifties. 
They  had  a  good  smack  of  old-world  buildings  at  that 
time.  The  stepping-stones  enabling  the  passer-by  to 
avoid  being  wet-footed  after  continued  rains,  are  as 


R.I.  P. 


107 


old  as   Pompeii  as  street-features  and  as  contrivances 

saving    shoe-leather.     The    square  tower    and  flagstaff 

might    have    belonged    to    the   contemporaries  of   the 

"  Humorists."   The 

trees  also  gave  an 

antiquated  flavour, 

though    leafless  at 

this  time,  as  they 

spread  bare   stems 

before  solidly  built 

structures.    Here  I 

recollect    noticing, 

dependent   from  n 

d  o  o  r-h  a  n  d  1  e ,    a 

mournful   piece  of 

black  drapery ;  this 


was  a  notice  that 
there  was  a  death 
in  that  house,  and  probably  was  a  trans-Atlantic  inti- 
mation substituted  for  the  two  mutes  formerly  stand- 
ing in  English  doorways  on  these  occasions. 

On  the  return  journey  I  met  at  the  "  Girard 
House "  table  <VTu)te  in  Philadelphia  an  old  familiar 
face,  the  handsome  one  of  C.  F.  Henningseu.  He 
was  a  sort  of  guerilla  or  free-lance,  who  had  spent  his 
life  in  camps,  rather  as  a  newspaper  correspondent 
than  himself  under  orders.  He  wrote,  in  1832, 


A  NOTICE  OF   DEATH 


108  WITH   THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

"Scenes  from  the  Belgian  Revolution."  This  was 
an  opuscule  in  verse  of  threescore  pages,  which  I 
purchased  once  on  a  bookstall — uncut,  of  course.  He 
had  after  this  been  in  the  Caiiist  War  of  1832  up  to 
1840,  where  he  was  near  being  shot,  being  captured 
by  the  Espartero  party.  He  invited  me  to  have  a 
smoke  in  his  rooms,  which  were  full  of  different-pat- 
terned rifles  and  carbines,  as  if  he  already  scented  in 
the  air  the  war  between  North  and  South.  I  heard 
that  he  took  a  commission  under  Walker  the  Fili- 
buster, and  became  a  general  in  the  Confederate* 
army  in  subsequent  years.  I  introduced  him  to 
Thackeray,  who  was  much  struck  with  his  presence, 
as  a  type  of  the  free-lance  not  unworkable  into 
romance.  Charles  Gruneisen,  the  able  musical  critic 
of  after-years,  was  his  companion  in  captivity  in 
Spain,  and  narrowly  escaped  the  short  shrift  given  in 
those  days  to  men  of  either  side  when  captured.  I 
believe  "  Little  Moore,"  whose  nom  de  plume  was 
"  Poco-Mas,"  the  Morning  Chronicle  correspondent, 
was  the  chief  means  of  getting  both  of  them  off, 
owing  to  his  interceding  in  their  favour  with  Espar- 
tero, the  commander  of  the  army,  and  the  British 
legion  under  General  Evans. 

On  the  18th  of  January,  before  leaving  Phila- 
delphia, I  sketched  the  somewhat  squat  proportions 
of  the  classical  Portico,  in  front  of  which  was  read 


INDEPENDENCE  HALL 


109 


the  "Declaration  of  Independence."  Here  it  is  re- 
produced, as  is  also  often  the  facsimile  of  that 
document  itself.  The  events  of  the  period  to  which 
it  relates  were  often  matter  of  discussion  between 


T1IE   DECLARATION  OF  INDETENDENCE 


Thackeray  and  his  friend  Mr.  T.  B.  Reed,  the 
able  diplomatist,  whose  genial  hospitality  made  our 
sojourn  so  pleasant  in  that  city.  All  readers  of 
Thackerayan  sayings  and  doings  must  ever  refer 
back  to  his  kindly  written,  though  brief,  sentencea 


HO  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

about  the  author  in  his  tribute  to  him  called 
"  Haud  Inimemor."  It  is  a  pity,  however,  that 
the  two  visits — that  of  1853  and  1855 — are  some- 
times insufficiently  denned,  and  rather  jumbled  to- 
gether. 

On  the  next  day  (19th)  we  shifted  our  camp, 
and,  changing  cars  at  Baltimore,  went  on  to  Wash- 
ington. The  change  was  not  a  beneficial  one,  as  we 
got  into  a  luggage  train — a  necessity  arising  from  the 
fact  that  the  train  meant  for  us  had  been  run  into  by 
a  "  burden  train,"  which  we  supposed  to  be  American 
for  "goods." 

Thackeray  has  himself  put  on  record  the  originat- 
ing source  of  his  lecture  on  "  Charity  and  Humour," 
about  this  time,  when  we  returned  once  more  to  New 
York.  Some  friends  wished  to  benefit  a  "Ladies' 
Society  for  the  Employment  and  Relief  of  the  Poor," 
and  he  volunteered  to  write  a  new  discourse  to  be 
delivered  for  that  purpose. 

He  took  a  whole  day  for  the  task,  lying  down  in 
his  favourite  recumbent  position  in  bed,  smoking, 
whilst  dictating  fluently  the  phrases  as  they  came.  I 
took  them  down,  with  little  or  no  intermission  from 
breakfast-time  till  late  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening. 
The  dinner-gong  sounded,  and  the  manuscript  was 
then  completed.  I  remember  his  pleased  exclama- 
tion at  this  tour  deforce — not  usual  with  him — "  I  don't 


"CHARITY  AND  HUMOUR."  m 

know  where  it's  all  coming  from  ! "  In  many  in- 
stances Boileau's  distich  came  to  mind,  when  the  com- 
position was  rebellious — 

"  Tel  mot,  pour  avoir  r£joui  le  lecteur, 
A  coftt6  bien  souvent  lies  hirmes  S  1'auteur  " — 

but  in  this  case  it  was  not  so ;  the  phrasing  of 
the  words  as  they  are  read,  flows  with  the  easy 
charm  of  their  production.  The  charge  of  self-repe- 
tition, made  heedlessly  against  it,  was  scarcely  avoid- 
able in  the  first  part,  which  is  a  recapitulation  of  the 
"  Humorists' "  drift  of  purpose.  These  eighteenth- 
century  wits  are  passed  in  review  in  the  first  half, 
as  a  foil  to  their  subsequent  comparison  with  the 
modern  forms  of  "  Humour "  and  "  Charity  "  to  be 
found  in  the  works  of  contemporaries,  and  to  whom  a 
noble  tribute  of  respectful  admiration  is  paid  so 
touchingly.  Doubtless  the  incentive  of  a  benevolent 
motive  was  inspiriting  to  the  author. 

The  lecture  was  first  given  a  day  or  two  after,  on 
the  31st  of  January,  at  the  Church  of  the  Messiah, 
in  Broadway,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The 
charge  for  each  ticket  was  one  dollar,  and  the  net 
result  was  about  twelve  hundred  dollars.  The  ladies 
expressed  their  gratification  at  this  windfall. 

When  we  reached  Washington  we  found  it  in 
what  is  known  as  a  whirl  of  "  high  jinks,"  owing  to 


112  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

the  interminable  succession  of  balls,  concerts,  parties, 
and  banquets,  to  which  Thackeray,  and  through  him 
myself,  were  hospitably  invited.  Lecturing  had  to 
lie  in  abeyance  till  Lenten  time  allowed  this  less 
mundane  form  of  amusement  to  be  indulged  in. 

It  would  require  a  graphic  pen  to  enumerate  these 
hospitalities,  foremost  amongst  which  were  those 
given  by  Sir  Philip  (then  plain  Mr.)  Crampton  at 
the  British  Embassy.  The  ladies  were  as  much 
struck  by  the  yellow  plush  liveries  of  our  represen- 
tative as  was  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  as  he  informs 
us,  about  this  time,  when  dining  with  the  Mayor  of 
Liverpool,  or  at  the  London  Reform  Club. 

Senator  Hamilton  Fish  also  entertained  sump- 
tuously. The  conversation,  I  remember,  took  an 
etymological  turn.  Washington  Irving  was  asked 
the  origin  of  "  wilt "  as  a  word,  which  he  professed 
not  to  know,  the  Dutch  derivation  of  "  withering " 
not  being  apparently  in  his  spirits  or  in  his  vocabulary. 
Senator  Seward  asked  Thackeray  how  his  own  name 
would  be  pronounced  in  England,  to  which  the  reply 
was,  "  Like  sewer — I  think,"  an  unsavoury  idiom, 
which  did  not  meet  with  his  approbation. 

Another  senator,  Mr.  G.  T.  Davis,  welcomed  us 
to  his  friendly  table,  his  sou  being  an  old  friend  of 
the  guest  of  the  evening,  as  secretary  of  the  American 
Minister  in  London. 


BALTIMORE  HOSPITALITIES 


113 


To  sum  up  these  symposia,  the  effect  was  to  make 
the  off-evenings  of  the  lecturer,  spent  at  Baltimore 
at  the  Universalist 
Church,  quite  a  relief 
to  him.  He  liked  as- 
cending to  the  pulpit 
there ;  delivered  his 
lay  sermon,  and  re- 
turned to  sleep  at  our 
Washington  lodging. 
The  modest  appliances 
there  pleased  him  by 
way  of  contrast.  In 
the  morning  the  black 
servant  used  to  bring 
in  the  teapot  in  her 
hand  whilst  smoking 
her  pipe,  which,  when 
her  tobacco  was  spent, 
she  used  to  deposit 


A    BLACK    SERVANT 


upon  my  bedroom 
stove,  and  so  perfume  it  with  its  aroma  all  day.  A 
young  mulatto  helped  her  who  had  quite  artistic 
proclivities.  He  used,  uninvited,  to  take  up  my 
sketches,  and  pass  veiy  apposite  critical  remarks  in  a 
good-natured  way. 

February  18th. — On   one  of  the  evenings  when    I 


114 


WITH   THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


was  left  in  solitary  possession  of  this  lodging,  I 
thought  it  would  be  fulfilling  a  pleasing  duty  to  pre- 
sent my  respects  to  President  Fillmore,  then  giving 
farewell  receptions  at  the  White  House,  like  those  of 
the  Speaker  of  the  English  House  of  Commons,  called 


Levees,  held  late  in  the  evenings.  Not  knowing  the 
exact  costume  one  was  expected  to  don  on  the  occa- 
sion, I  recollect  making  the  inquiry  of  an  intelligent 
storekeeper  from  whom  I  was  making  a  purchase. 
In  a  nonchalant  manner  he  said  that  the  crush  was  so 
great  on  these  occasions  that  no  one  thought  of  going 
there  in  any  dress  but  the  very  oldest  suit  in  their 


AT  THE    WHITE  HOUSE  115 

wardrobe ;  "  in  fact,  the  worse  the  better."  It  is 
needless  to  add  that,  easily  seeing  through  his  desire 
to  take  "a  rise  out  of  the  Britisher,"  I  put  on  my 
best  suit  of  black,  and  appeared  at  the  appointed 
hour.  Here  is  a  sketch  of  the  scene,  done  from 


A    PRESIDENTIAL    KE<  EITION 


recollection.  By  the  Head  of  the  State  stood  a  gentle- 
man-usher, who  came  forward  and  inquired  your  name  ; 
the  President  shook  hands,  with  a  pleasant  "  I'm  glad 
to  see  you,"  and  you  passed  on,  as  did  hundreds  of 
others — in  couples  for  the  most  part.  The  queer  note 
of  the  evening  was  to  see  a  stalwart  son  of  toil,  who 
seemed  unconsciously  to  have  followed  out  to  the 
letter  my  friend  the  counter-jumper's  injunction,  and 


116  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

had  made  his  appearance  in  the  frowsy  garb  of  a 
prairie  labourer.  He  held  a  dirty  misshapen  cap  in 
his  hand,  his  boots  were  dusty  and  worn,  and  near 
him  was  his  son,  probably  weary,  leaning  his  soiled 
garments  against  the  white-and-gold  papered  walls, 
and  possibly  leaving  there  the  marked  outline  of  his 
presence.  People  laughed  as  if  at  a  good  joke,  and 
passed  on,  whilst  the  staring  "hawbuck"  stood 
riveted  by  the  scene  of  splendour.  French  marquis, 
foreign  diplomats,  citizens  from  all  parts,  elbowed 
each  other  in  the  throng.  G.  Stuart's  portrait  of 
General  Washington  was  on  the  walls.  The  laurelled 
bust  of  the  hero  was  on  a  recess  over  the  doorway, 
both  seemingly  looking  down  blandly  on  the  scene 
before  them. 

By  an  invariable  courteous  pre-arrangement,  every 
four  years  the  outgoing  President  accompanies  the  in- 
coming one  for  a  while,  in  order,  as  it  were,  that  the 
latter  may  be  amicably  introduced,  and  witness  the 
public  functions  of  Washington.  Thus  both  President 
Fillmore  and  President  Pierce  honoured  Thackeray  by 
going  together  to  hear  his  lecture  at  Carusi's  Rooms. 
He  compared  them,  to  their  amusement,  to  "  the  two 
Kings  of  Brentford  smelling  at  one  rose." 

On  another  occasion  they,  as  we  also  did,  joined 
an  invited  party  of  guests  to  witness  the  mechanism 
of  the  new  caloric  ship  recently  completed  by  John 


PRESIDENTIAL  INSPECTION 


11? 


Ericsson.     The  cost  of  the  vessel  and  her  fittings  had, 
it  was   said,  amounted  to   130,000  dollars.     She  was 


PRESIDENT*    P1EKCE    AND   FILI..MOKE 


moored  in  the  stream,  and  as  she  was  seen  high  above 
water-mark,  looked  at  this  early  date  capsizable. 
The  two  Presidents,  discussing  her  probable  future, 


118 


WITH   THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


which  was  trumpeted  as  "promoting  a  new  era  in 
naval  propulsion,"  are  here  grouped  together,  as  they 
stood  apart  waiting  for  the  tender  which  was  to  fetch 


"" 


UBNERAL  CABS 


the  assembled  company  on  board  her.  There  was  an 
amusing  instance  given,  as  we  got  on  board,  of  the  diffi- 
culties that  superior  frames,  mental  and  bodily,  have 
to  encounter  in  adapting  themselves  to  the  situation. 
The  breeze  of  the  riverside  had  chilled  most  people, 


IN  THE  CAPITOL,    WASHINGTON 


119 


who  at  once  took  refuge  below  deck.  I  noticed  the 
small  form  of  Washington  Irving,  as  seen  through  the 
intervening  steps  of  the  companion  ladder,  beneath 
which  he  was  ensconced ;  whilst  Thackeray  had,  in 
order  to  chat  with  him,  carefully  to  keep  his  head 


CoritT   IN   SESSION 


between  the  roof-beams,  as  otherwise  there  was  in- 
sufficient height  to  enable  him  to  keep  his  head  erect 
or  to  stand  straight  on  his  legs.  The  vessel  might  be, 
as  she  was  stated  to  be,  260  feet  in  length,  but  alti- 
tudes barely  corresponded  with  the  human  measure- 
ments. 

Though   many    eloquent   masters   of    speech    from 


120  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

Congress  were  of  the  party,  few  or  no  discourses  were 
delivered  after  the  sumptuous  lunch  set  out — due,  no 
doubt,  to  sympathetic  respect  for  the  feelings  of  the 
President,  General  Pierce.  He  had  lost  his  only  son, 
aged  thirteen,  and  his  wife  had  been  injured  in  a  rail- 
way accident  only  two  months  before  the  event  here 
recorded.  The  engines  alone  kept  up  voluble  snorts 
now  and  then.  It  is  grievous  to  relate  that  this  result 
of  twenty  years  of  thought  and  labour  and  expense 
foundered  a  year  or  so  afterwards  in  a  tornado  oft' 
Sandy  Hook,  the  port-holes  being  open. 

Before  our  arrival  at  Washington  the  newspapers 
had  announced  in  leaded  type: — 

"THE   IRON   JACKSON. 

"Congress  adjourned  on  Saturday,  8th  January,  and  went  under 
the  belly  of  the  new  iron  horse  and  rider  just  erected  in  Washington 
to  the  memory  of  General  Jackson.  Hero-worship  pays." 

Subsequently  this  bronze  equestrian  monument  was 
unveiled  with  demonstrations  of  its  national  import- 
ance. It  was  during  a  saunter,  whilst  passing  through 
Lafayette  Square,  that  Thackeray  saw  it.  He  hap- 
pened to  let  out,  at  a  private  house,  his  opinion  of  the 
merits  of  the  statue,  which  were  thus  summed  up : — 
"The  hero  was  sitting  in  an  impossible  attitude,  on 
an  impossible  horse  with  an  impossible  tail."  This 
criticism  was  good-naturedly  repeated,  and  was  then 


CONGRESS 


121 


made  the  subject  of  an  attack  upon  the  objector  in  an 
obscure  paper.  He  was  bluntly  informed  that  "the 
prejudices  of  English  people  were  incorrigible,"  etc. 
etc.  The  sculptor  had  never  seen  any  equestrian 
statue,  and  it  was  therefore  excusable  to  fail  in  such 
a  gigantic  task.  The  fault  was  that  of  mistaken 
laudations  on  the  part  of  others.  The  most  sensible 
and  competent  judges — Charles  Sunnier  amongst  the 
rest — joined  in  the  obloquy  which  seems  to  apper- 
tain to  too  many  sculptural  equestrian  efforts,  at  home 
and  abroad. 

When   invited   afterwards   to  visit  General   Scott, 
at  the  War  Department,  he  showed  us,  hung  up  on 
the  walls,  a  trophy  of  the  siege 
of  New  Orleans,  of  which  Gen- 
eral Jackson  was  the  hero.     It 
was  the  sword  of  Pulaski,  who 
fell  on  that  day.     He  liked  to 
dwell   upon    warlike    deeds,    in 
which    he  had   been   conspicu- 
ously successful,   in    preference 
to  Presidential  campaigning,  in 
which,  though  beaten,  he  bore 
his  defeat  manfully,  as  his  leo- 
nine  face   would    lead    one   to   expect   he   would    do. 
Here  is  its  outline. 

Senator  Sunnier  conducted  us  over  the   whole   of 


GENERAL   SCOTT 


132  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

the  different  sections  of  Congress,  beginning  with  a 
view  of  the  central  Rotunda,  embellished  with  life- 
size  illustrations  of  the  War  of  Independence, 
executed  by  Truinbull.  This  painter,  a  pupil  of 
Benjamin  West  in  England,  had  closely  followed 
General  Washington  as  his  aide-de-camp,  and  was 
therefore  an  intelligent  witness  of  many  scenes 
he  depicted;  hence  their  value  in  costume  and  in 
portraiture.  Thackeray,  with  his  trained  critical  eye, 
pronounced  them  admirably  good;  and  so  they  are. 
I  never  cease  to  regret  having  lost  an  elaborate 
sketch  I  made  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
session ;  it  was  sent,  by  Thackeray's  advice,  to  an 
illustrated  paper,  and  was  not  published,  and  never 
recovered  by  me;  else  these  pages  would  have  con- 
tained likenesses  of  the  President's  chair  topped  by 
the  huge  eagle,  and  the  semicircular  seats  thronged 
by  members  at  their  desks,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Marshall 
ably  arguing  for  an  increase  of  their  naval  force, 
the  proposition  scouted  by  irascible  opponents,  spring- 
ing on  their  legs.  I  have,  however,  replaced  this  by 
a  few  stray  bits — as  taken  from  the  Strangers'  Gallery 
— of  Senators,  such  as  the  portrait  of  the  venerable 
Anglophobist,  General  Cass,  whose  locks  were  as  hale  as 
his  oratory  was  vigorous,  and  the  sketch  of  the  "  Su- 
preme Court "  in  session,  held  in  what  used  to  be  in 
former  days  the  Senate  Chamber,  much  smaller  than  its 


THE  HUSTINGS 


123 


successor,  the  Ionic  columns  of  Potomac  marble,  as 
ponderous  as  the  judgments  seem  to  be  to  the  un- 
initiated listeners,  whose  numbers  are  few.  Neither  is 
the  Law  Library,  which  lies  underneath  it,  thronged 


with  readers ;  quite  unheeded  are  the  folios,  which,  I 
suppose,  are  only  for  fitful  legal  researches  after  pre- 
cedents. 

It  was  quite  a  relief  to  emerge  into  the  open  air, 
and  to  watch,  mayhap,  one  of  the  numerous  processions 


124 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


passing  by,  headed  by  their  blatant  brass-band  instru- 
ments. A  turn  of  the  road  brought  me  before  a  square 
wooden  structure  in  the  open  air,  which  I  sketched. 
It  was  meant  for  oratorical  displays,  and  is  known  as  a 
"  stump  " — quite  a  national  institution. 

Somewhat  footsore  with  so  much  lionising,  we  were 
glad  to  find  good  restoratives  at  the  National  Restau- 
rant. The  waiter  alone  was  refreshing  to  look  at  as  he 
brought  in  some  dainty,  which,  at  this  distance  of  time, 
as  depicted  here,  looks  insufficient  to  satisfy  three 
hungry  mortals,  as  we  were. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Richmond,  Va. — A  Slave  Sale — Houdon's  Statue  of  Washington — 
Petersburg,  Va. — Charleston— Au  Empty  Valise — Savannah — 
New  York  Once  More. 

AFIEB  a  three  weeks'  stay  at  Washington,  we  left 
it  at  night,  always  a  dreary  time  of  exit.  It  was 
necessary  to  do  so  to  catch  the  steamer  which  was  to 
waft  us  down  the  Potomac.  There  were  plenty  of 
fine  Rembrandtesque  night-effects  to  be  noted.  Amid 
the  general  bustle,  and  in  the  motley  groups  hurry- 
ing on  board,  you  could  dimly  see  the  man  at  the 
tiller,  in  a  small  cabin  amidships.  The  idea — at  first 
entertained — of  sleeping  on  board  proved  illusory. 
A  lusty  negro  rang  the  bell  announcing  supper,  con- 
sisting of  oyster  soup.  Another  deck-hand  invited 
"  gentlemen  to  take  de  tickets  " — clapper  going  again ; 
then  another  summons  to  have  luggage  labelled.  Some- 
one stated  we  were  near  the  "  Dismal  Swamp ; "  this 
seemed  to  chime  in  with  our  lowered  spirits,  deafened 
as  we  were  by  tintinabulary  sounds. 

With  dawn  these  revived,  and  the  sun  lifted  the 
misty  veil.  The  eyes,  jaded  by  the  somewhat  bleak 
scenery  of  Washington  and  its  neighbourhood  at  this 


126  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

season  of  the  year,  were  refreshed  by  vistas  of  green 
leafage.  I  sketched  the  distant  outline  of  Washington's 
home,  Mount  Vernon.  We  tried  to  spot  the  "New 
Castlewood,"  which  was  raised  on  the  beautiful  banks 
of  the  Potomac.  The  delightful  season  alluded  to  in 
the  same  passage,  called  the  Indian  summer,  though 
belonging  to  late  autumn,  seemed  to  have  its  counter- 
part in  March,  for  the  heat  of  the  day  was  considerable 
as  we  neared  Richmond,  after  changing  from  steamboat 
into  cars  once  more. 

We  came  into  Richmond,  as  it  were,  on  the  day 
after  the  fair ;  some  hitch  in  the  communication  had 
caused  a  day's  delay.  The  hall  at  Richmond  was 
crammed  with  an  expectant  audience,  who  had  to  be 
politely  informed  that  the  lecture  was  postponed  till 
the  next  evening.  They  took  it  in  good  part  wrhen 
informed  of  the  unlucky  missing  of  the  train,  and 
dispersed  after  receiving  a  telegraphic  apology. 

As  if  it  were  but  yesterday,  the  trite  incidents  of 
travel  crop  up  at  times  in  the  memory.  Thus  I 
remember,  at  a  station  between  Fredericksburg  and 
Richmond,  which  was  on  a  steepish  gradient,  two 
stalwart  negroes  arresting  the  train's  movement  down- 
wards by  periodical  thrusts  of  wooden  logs,  giving 
the  cars  and  ourselves  quite  pleasing  jerks  in  the 
process,  treating  these  vehicles  as  a  waggoner  does 
his  team  on  going  downhill.  (There  were  no  brakes 


128  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

here  in  these  days.)  We  were  glad  to  reach  our  final 
destination,  Richmond,  and  to  enter  its  comfortable 
hotel.  The  next  day's  paper  was  somewhat  mixed  in 
its  announcements  of  fashionable  arrivals,  thus :  "  Mr. 
Thackeray,  the  celebrated  author;  Mr.  Anderson, 
"Wizard  of  the  North ; "  to  which,  as  far  as  I  recollect, 
were  added  some  species  of  prodigy  and  a  wild  buf- 
falo. If  one  was  inclined  to  wince,  at  first,  at  this  not 
quite  dignified  medley  of  caterers  for  public  amuse- 
ment, the  feeling  soon  wore  off  into  one  of  positive 
liking  for  the  unpretending  and  cheerful  conversation 
of  the  conjurer.  He  was  surrounded  by  quite  a 
troup  of  young  wizards,  who  all  helped  him  in  his 
sleight  of  hand  and  evolutions.  The  black  waiters 
wore  stiff  white  bows  round  their  necks,  and  appeared 
in  black  coat-tails,  and  plied  the  company  with  all 
the  delicacies,  including  the  luscious  banana,  much 
relished  in  its  fresh  state.  This  feasting  on  the  ordin- 
ary fare  was  many  times  relieved  by  the  unceasing 
kindliness  of  some  of  the  notables,  who  threw  open 
their  hearts  and  their  homes  to  the  welcome  person- 
ator  of  English  literature,  not  excluding  self  for  the 
nonce.  The  English  intonation  was  heard  once  more, 
owing  to  the  traditional  British  schooling  still  kept 
up  in  those  days  in  Virginia. 

This  State,  as  all  know,  is  especially  endeared  to 
the  British  tar  by  furnishing  him  with  the  toothsome 


IN   VIRGINIA 


129 


"quid" — with  which  he  has  ever  been  plentifully 
regaled  from  the  fields  of  the  district,  at  the  rate  of 
about  130  dollars  profit  per  acre.  The  tobacco-leaf 
fluctuates  some- 
what in  quality. 
In  my  peregrina- 
tions through  the 
business  part  of 
the  town  I  came 
across  the  scene 
depicted  on  p. 
127.  The  experts 
of  the  trade  'were 
to  be  seen  grasjv- 
ing  in  their  arms 
several  of  the 
choicest  speci- 
meus  of  the 
brands,  whilst 
muscular  negroes, 
armed  with  crow- 
bars, lifted  each 
of  the  compressed 

parcels,  so  as  to  test  them  at  the  central  portions. 
The  mass  of  these  emitted  a  pleasant  honey-dew 
smell,  and  evolved  mental  calculations  as  to  the  prodi- 
gious amount  of  mastication  ensuing.  This,  however, 
9 


130  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

if  I  could  trust  a  voluntary  informant  afterwards, 
was  not,  after  all,  so  vast  as  imagined.  He  said, 
"But  for  the  income  it  brings  in,  we  could  easily 
chew  the  whole  Virginia  plant  ourselves."  No  won- 
der, then,  is  it  to  see  the  capacious  hotel  expectorators 
generally  festooned  with  the  ejected,  well-moistened 
leafage.  Hitched  on  one  of  the  rafters  of  the  room 
was  noticeable  a  trophy  of  the  late  Presidential  cam- 
paign, in  the  shape  of  a  small  picture  of  the  favourite 
candidate  mounted  upon  a  prancing  charger;  this 
was  fastened  to  a  pole,  and  bore  the  inscription— 
"In  General  Pierce  we  put  a  manly  trust."  It  was 
paraded  thus  at  the  hustings  as  a  party  emblem,  and 
their  man  had  won  the  day. 

The  departing  trains  for  the  South  cross  the 
brawling  rocky  bed  of  the  James  river  by  a  wooden 
bridge.  Here  it  is,  overleaf,  in  the  immediate  fore- 
ground of  the  sketch;  beyond,  is  given  the  general 
aspect  of  Kichmond,  with  its  houses  capped  by  the 
classic-shaped  Capitol  as  it  looked  forty  years  ago,  a 
fair  notion  of  its  aspect  at  that  period.  Somehow 
these  rough-looking  storehouses  and  unpretending  ten- 
ements are  always  more  pleasing  to  the  artistic  sense 
than  are  the  stately  fabrics  of  more  modern-looking 
towns.  The  handsome  verdure-surrounded  villas  are 
here  out  of  sight. 

The  3rd  of  March,  1853,  is  a  date  well  imprinted  on 


A   SLAVE  SALE  131 

my  memory.  I  was  sitting  at  an  early  table  dlu)te 
breakfast  by  myself,  reading  the  ably  conducted 
local  newspaper,  of  which  our  kind  friend  was  the 
editor.  It  was  not,  however,  the  leaders  or  politics 
which  attracted  my  eye,  so  much  as  the  advertise- 
ment columns,  containing  the  announcements  of  slave 
sales,  some  of  which  were  to  take  place  that  morn- 
ing in  Wall  Street,  close  at  hand,  at  eleven  o'clock. 

Ideas  of  a  possibly  dramatic  subject  for  pictorial 
illustration  flitted  across  my  mind ;  so,  with  small 
notepaper  and  pencil,  I  went  thither,  inquiring  my 
way  to  the  auction  rooms.  They  consisted,  I  soon 
discovered,  of  low  rooms,  roughly  white-washed, 
with  worn  and  dirty  flooring,  open,  as  to  doors  and 
windows,  to  the  street,  which  they  lined  in  suc- 
cession. The  buyers  clustered  first  in  one  dealer's 
premises,  then  moved  on  in  a  body  to  the  next  store, 
till  the  whole  of  the  tenants  of  these  separate 
apartments  were  disposed  of.  The  sale  was  an- 
nounced by  hanging  out  a  small  red  flag  on  a 
pole  from  the  doorway.  On  each  of  these  was 
pinned  a  manuscript  notice  of  the  lot  to  be  sold. 
Thus  I  read  : — "  Fifteen  likely  negroes  to  be  dis- 
posed of  between  half-past  nine  and  twelve — five 
men,  six  women,  two  boys,  and  two  girls."  Then 
followed  the  dealer's  signature,  which  corresponded 
to  that  inscribed  over  the  doorway.  When  I  got 


132 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


1N  THE  RICHMOND    SLAVE   MARKET 


into  the  room  I  noticed,  hanging  on  the  wall,  a 
quaintly  framed  and  dirty  lithograph,  representing 
two  horsemen  galloping  upon  sorry  nags,  one  of 
the  latter  casting  its  shoe,  and  his  companion  having 
a  bandaged  greasy  fetlock ;  the  marginal  inscription 
on  the  border  was  to  this  effect : — "  Beware  of  what 
you  are  about."  I  have  often  thought  since  how 
foolish  it  was,  on  my  part,  not  to  have  obeyed 
this  premonitory  injunction  to  act  prudently  in  such 
a  place  as  this  was.  The  ordeal  gone  through  by 
the  several  negroes  began  by  making  a  stalwart 
hand  pace  up  and  down  the  compartment,  as  would 


IN  THE  RICHMOND  SLAVE  MARKET  133 

be  done  with  a  horse,  to  note  his  action.  This 
proving  satisfactory,  some  doubt  was  expressed  as 
to  his  ocular  soundness.  This  was  met  by  one  gentle- 
man unceremoniously  fixing  one  of  his  thumbs  into 
the  socket  of  the  supposed  valid  eye,  holding  up 
a  hair  by  his  other  hand,  'and  asking  the  negro 
to  state  what  was  the  object  held  up  before  him. 
He  was  evidently  nonplussed,  and  in  pain  at  the 
operation,  and  he  went  down  in  the  bidding  at 
once.  More  hands  were  put  up ;  but  by  this 
time  feeling  a  wish  for  fresh  air,  I  walked  out, 
passing  intervening  stores  and  the  grouped  expectant 
negroes  there. 

I  got  to  the  last  and  largest  end  store,  and 
thinking  the  sales  would  occupy  a  certain  time,  I 
thought  it  might  be  possible  to  sketch  some  of  the 
picturesque  figures  awaiting  their  turn.  I  did  so. 
On  rough  benches  were  sitting,  huddled  close  to- 
gether, neatly  dressed  in  grey,  young  negro  girls 
with  white  collars  fastened  by  scarlet  bows,  and  in 
white  aprons.  The  form  of  a  woman  clasping  her 
infant,  ever  touching,  seemed  the  more  so  here.  There 
was  a  muscular  field-labourer  sitting  apart ;  a  rusty 
old  stove  filled  up  another  space.  Having  rapidly 
sketched  these  features,  I  had  not  time  to  put  my 
outline  away  before  the  whole  group  of  buyers  and 
dealers  were  in  the  compartment.  I  thought  the 


134  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

best  plan  was  to  go  on  unconcernedly ;  but,  perceiv- 
ing me  so  engaged,  no  one  would  bid.  The  auc- 
tioneer, who  had  mounted  his  table,  came  down  and 
asked  me  whether,  "  if  I  had  a  business  store,  and 
someone  came  in  and  interrupted  my  trading,  I  should 
like  it."  This  was  unanswerable ;  I  got  up  with  the 
intention  of  leaving  quietly,  but,  feeling  this  would 
savour  of  flight,  I  turned  round  to  the  now  evidently 
angry  crowd  of  dealers,  and  said,  "You  may  turn 
me  away,  but  I  can  recollect  all  I  have  seen."  I 
lingered  in  a  neighbouring  vacated  store,  to  give  my- 
self the  attitude  of  leisurely  retreat,  and  I  left  this 
stifling  atmosphere  of  human  traffic.  "Crowe  has 
been  very  imprudent,"  Thackeray  wrote  to  a  friend 
afterwards.  And,  in  truth,  I  soon  reflected  it  was  so. 
It  might  have  led  to  unpleasant  results  to  the  lecturer 
himself,  bound,  as  he  went  South,  not  to  be  em- 
broiled in  any  untoward  accident  involving  inter- 
ference with  the  question  of  slavery,  then  at  fever- 
heat,  owing  to  Mrs.  Stowe's  fiery  denunciations  in 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  Though  I  have  no  real  ground 
for  the  assumption,  it  has  often  occurred  to  me  that 
the  incident  was  allowed  to  drop  quietly,  owing  to  the 
timely  intervention  of  friends,  who  threw  oil  upon  these 
troubled  waters,  and  buried  their  wrath  in  oblivion. 

The   narrative  here   given  is  so  simple  as  to  bear 
the  stamp  of  truth  which  needs  no  further  corroboration. 


AV  THE  RICHMOND  SLAVE  MARKET  135 

Still,  by  way  of  amplification  of  scenes  subsequent 
to  my  withdrawal — or  flight,  if  the  reader  prefers, 
though  I  was  not  sensible  of  it — I  herewith  give 
the  account,  which  I  found  published  exactly  a  week 
after  in  the  New  York  Daily  Tribune  of  March  10th, 
written  by  someone  who,  unknown  to  myself,  was 
present  on  this  occasion : — 

Extract  of  part  of  a  letter  in  the  New  York  Daily 
Tribune  of  March  10th,  1853,  written  by  a  New 
Y(  >rker  on  Southern  tour.  The  letter  is  dated  "  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  Thursday,  March  3rd,  1853:"- 

A  SLAVE  AUCTION  IN  VIRGINIA 

[After  describing  the  previous  sales,  lie  comes  to  the  last  one.] 
"A  scene  occurred  in  this  room  which  'may  yet  be  heard  from.' 
Just  before  the  sale  commenced,  a  young  well-dressed  gentleman 
entered  the  room — placing  himself  in  one  corner  of  the  room — 
began  to  take  a  sketch,  and  had  proceeded  quite  far  before 
he  was  noticed  by  anyone  but  myself.  At  last  he  attracted 
the  attention  of  some  of  the  bystanders,  until  full  twenty  or 
more  were  looking  over  his  shoulder.  They  all  seemed  pleased 
with  what  he  was  doing,  so  long  as  the  sketch  was  a  mere  outline, 
but  as  he  began  to  finish  up  the  picture,  and  form  his  groups  of 
figures,  they  began  to  see  what  he  was  about,  and  then  someone 
went  up  privately  to  the  auctioneer  (who  had  by  this  time  got  one 
or  two  sold),  and  informed  him  what  the  man  was  doing.  He  came 
down  from  the  stand,  went  and  overlooked  what  he  was  doing  for 
a  moment,  and  saw  himself  written  down  for  the  first  time  in  his 
life.  He  inquired  of  the  man  what  he  was  doing.  The  answer  was, 
'I  do  not  know  that  I  am  bound  to  answer  your  inquiry.'  Mr. 


136  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

Auctioneer  took  his  stand  again,  but  was  evidently  so  enraged  that 
he  could  not  go  on,  for  by  this  time  the  whole  company  was  aware 
of  what  was  being  done.  And  some  proclaimed  with  a  loud  oath 

that   the   likeness  was    'd d  fine,'    'most   splendid;'    others  were 

for  'footing'  him.  The  artist  took  the  hint,  however,  without  the 
kick,  and  left  the  room.  But  now  we  had  a  specimen  of  Southern 
bravery.  They  were  all  sure  that  he  was  an  Abolitionist,  and  they 
all  wanted  to  'lend  a  foot'  to  kick  him,  while  one  small  gentleman 
said  he  would  pay  twenty-five  dollars  to  hire  a  negro  to  do  it.  The 
excitement  soon  passed  over  ;  not,  however,  without  leaving  on  my 
mind  the  truth  of  the  maxim  that  '  He  who  fights  and  runs  away, 
may  live  to  fight  another  day.'" 

After  these  sales  we  saw  the  usual  exodus  of  negro 
slaves,  marched  under  escort  of  their  new  owners 
across  the  town  to  the  railway  station,  where  they 
took  places,  and  "went  South."  They  held  scanty 
bundles  of  clothing,  their  only  possession.  These 
were  the  scenes  which  in  a  very  short  number  of  years 
made  one  realise  the  sources  of  the  fiercest  of  civil 
wars,  and  which  had  their  climax  when  General  Grant 
mustered  his  forces  upon  this  spot  as  a  centre  against 
the  equally  gallant  General  Lee.  Placid  enough  at 
the  time  I  speak  of  were  the  avocations  of  this  place, 
which  is  built  on  a  slope,  as  is  its  English  namesake. 
Towering  above  the  rest  of  the  houses  was  the  Capitol, 
inside  which  was  an  antiquated  stove,  which  had 
done  service  ever  so  long  ago.  All  genuine  works 
of  art  stamp  a  place  as  quite  out  of  the  common. 


THE  STATE  HOUSE 


137 


The  State  House  at  Richmond  so  excels,  and  Houdon's 
statue  of  General  Washington  stands  there  as  a  great 
masterpiece.  The  story  is  pleasantly  told  on  the 
occasion  of  the  famous  French  sculptor's  visit  to 


Mount  Vernon.  So  scrupulous  were  these  great 
craftsmen  they  disdained  heroics,  but  they  gave  alike 
the  exact  measurement  of  the  stature,  the  simple 
pose,  the  serene  smile,  and  the  imperishable  marble 
form  of  those  before  them.  One  wonders  why  these 


138  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

noble  versions  are  not  simply  reproduced,  instead  of 
modern  caracoling  equestrian  statues  filling  squares, 
which  give  no  mortal  any  pleasure  to  look  at.  The 
clean-shaven  face  of  the  "  Father  of  his  Country  "  has 


AFTER    HOUDON'S    WASHINGTON 


doubtless  had  the  effect  of   giving  encouragement  to 
all  good  Americans — his  children — to  do  likewise. 

Exemplifying  this,  here  is  the  quaint  posture  of 
nearly  horizontal  rest  in  which  the  barber  plies  the 
razor  upon  the  cheeks  and  chins  of  most  of  his 
customers,  that  curious  excrescence  —  the  goatee  — 

*  Inscribed  thus:  "Fait  par  Houdun,  citoyeii  Fran$ais,  1788." 


140  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

betwixt  lip  and  chin,  forming  the  exception  to  the 
usually  clean-shaven  face. 

Petersburg  (Virginia)  sharing  with  Richmond  in 
strategic  importance  during  the  Civil  War,  and  since 
that  adding  its  record  of  valorous  defence,  was  at  this 
time  a  somewhat  somnolent-looking  town.  I  went 
thither,  and  made  all  due  arrangements  for  lecturing. 
I  recollect  carrying  off  in  triumph  from  a  drug  store 
a  high  desk  enamelled  in  white,  the  MS.  leaves  of 
the  lecture  needing  this  kind  of  support,  generally 
dispensed  with  by  extempore  speakers.  The  walls 
were  placarded  with  announcements  of  the  discourse  ; 
the  papers  were  full  of  advertisements  that  the  lecture 
would  take  place. 

Thackeray  came  down  by  an  afternoon  train.  On 
inquiry  at  the  ticket  offices  it  was  found  that  very  few 
seats  had  been  taken  ;  the  advertisements  in  the  papers 
had  remained  unheeded  for  the  most  part.  As  the 
evening  was  warm,  the  hall  windows  were  left  open ; 
and  as  I  took  a  seat  on  a  bench  in  a  square  below,  I 
could  hear  the  well-known  sentences  as  they  fell  from 
the  lecturer's  lips,  and  issued,  over  well-nigh  empty 
benches,  into  the  calm  air  of  the  outside  square, 
where,  lounging  sadly,  I  heard  them.  We  philoso- 
phised over  this  queer  breach  in  the  hitherto  con- 
tinuous spell  of  successes,  as  he  afterwards  whiffed  his 
cigar,  without  anyone  joining  us,  in  the  hotel  parlour. 

I 


PETERSBURG,    VA.  14:1 

In  the  early  morning  I  felt  myself  seeking  relief  from 
enforced  mutism  by  button-holing  a  negro  whom  I 
watched  digging  in  a  small  field.  To  iny  query  he 
replied  he  was  working  upon  an  allotment-plot,  many 
of  his  fellows  having  the  same  small  ownership  of  the 
soil  for  small  market  produce  given  them  by  liberal 
landlords.  We  took  the  very  earliest  train  to  Rich- 
mond, glad  to  get  once  more  amongst  friends  and  to 
cheerful  converse.  The  sketch  of  Petersburg  presented 
overleaf  (a  view  which  is  a  little  way  from  the 
street  pavements)  gives  a  notion  of  the  place,  at  that 
time  quite  innocent  of  forts — unconscious  of  coming 
warfare,  and  that  they  would  bear  the  brunt  of  a 
good  deal  of  it  hereafter. 

The  Easter  Monday  holiday  was  here  kept,  as  with 
us,  by  popular  dolce  far  niente  rambles  and  quiet 
enjoyment  of  all  factory  and  other  hands,  clad  in 
their  best. 

I  sketched  one  of  the  factories  on  the  banks  of 
the  Appomattox,  to  which  a  bare  tree  was  the  pic- 
turesque foreground.  I  had  time  only  to  indicate 
the  sand  collectors  and  their  carts  in  the  front  of 
it. 

The  night-travelling  in  the  cars  in  the  South,  as 
usual,  only  admits  of  snatches  of  broken  rest.  You 
doze  perhaps,  and  you  are  aroused  by  the  negro 
'fireman,  who  comes  and  rakes  out  the  cinders  choking 


142 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


up  the  stove-grate,  and  playfully  sending  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  ashes  flying  into  the  air  you  breathe. 
He,  however,  relieved  your  sensations  of  being 
parched,  by  then  bringing  a  large  bucket  full  of 
water  and  a  huge  wooden  long-handled  ladle.  All 


who  are  clustered  for  warmth  round  the  stove,  and 
who  had  stretched  out  grimy  stockinged  toes 
towards  this  centre,  refresh  themselves,  turn  round, 
and  become  somnolent  once  more.  There  is  a  fine 
democratic  air  of  simplicity  about  the  whole  arrange- 
ment. As  dawn  comes,  you  are  rewarded  by  seeing 


144 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


through  the  many-paned  windows  of  the  car — which, 
in  fact,  are  on  all  sides  of  it — by  witnessing  the  roseate 
rays  of  the  rising  sun  illuminating  the  pine  forests, 
superbly  decked  out  in  rime.  You  are  inclined  on 
these  occasions  to  side  with  the  humoristic  views  of 
Mr.  Rudyard  Kipling's  latest  doctrine,  and  to  pro- 


ON  BOARD  THE  "GOVERNOR  DUDLEY 


nounce  these  magical  fleeting  effects  as  transcending 
more  enduring  canvas-smearings  in  interest.  The 
calm  Sunday's  rest  came  as  we  settled  at  the  journey's 
end  at  Wilmington,  North  Carolina.  The  devout  con- 
gregation of  negroes  in  the  gallery  of  the  church  there 
dwells  in  the  mind  long  after  the  sermon  and  its  text 


CHARLESTON 


145 


have   been   forgotten.      Their   cheerful    faces   were   a 
homily. 

The  next  day  we  took  tickets  in  the  small  steamer 
plying  between  Wilmington  and  Charleston.  The 
dolphins  were  rolling  over  in  the 
shallow  waters  in  aquatic  somer- 
saults. Our  captain,  trumpet  in 
hand,  looked  so  rotund,  you  felt 
that,  if  thrown  overboard  by  ill- 
fate,  he  also  would  have  rotated. 
He,  however,  did  his  business  of 
steering  us  at  the  rate  of  seventeen 
knots  an  hour  steadily  over  the 
billows.  Skilfully  threading  his 
way  through  shoals  and  shallows, 
passing  sea-girt  forts  of  the  old  war 
pattern — so  soon  to  be  replaced  by 

.          .  UUAKU 

newer  ones,  and    to    hoist  the  Con- 
federate   standard    in   gallant   defence — we  got  safely 
into  Charleston  harbour,  and  found  rooms  in  the  huge 
"Charleston  Hotel." 

A  time-worn  copy  of  the  Charleston  Daily  Courier, 
dated  Tuesday  morning,  March  8th,  1853,  is  before 
me  as  I  write  these  lines.  It  contains  this  announce- 
ment :  — "  Passengers  yesterday  (7th)  arrived  per 
steamer  Governor  Dudley  from  Wilmington,  North 
Carolina."  Here  follow  the  names,  "Thackery"  (sic), 
10 


146  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

u  Crowe,"  coining  at  the  close.  The  faulty  spelling 
is,  however,  amended  in  the  small  leader  announcing 
the  arrival  at  "  Charleston  Hotel,"  which  adds : — 
"  This  evening,  at  the  Hibernian  Hall,  at  7.30,  he 
will  begin  a  course  of  three  lectures,  viz.,  on  Tues- 
day (8th),  Thursday  (10th),  and  Friday  (llth)  ; 
tickets  for  the  course,  1  dollar ;  single  lecture,  50 
cents."  These  were,  of-  course,  highly  relished  by 
the  elite  of  Charleston.  They  gave  full  vent  to  their 
well-known  hospitalities,  and  much  lionising  was  the 
result.  Thackeray  made  here  several  drawings  with 
his  gold  nib,  some  of  which  have  been  published  and 
facsimiled  by  the  wonderful  new  processes.  Borrow- 
ing of  him  the  same  invaluably  pointed  pen,  I  made 
a  few  sketches  in  this  city.  First  is  the  "  Reveille  !  " 
sounded  by  fife  and  drum,  calling  out  the  negroes, 
secluded  within  doors  during  the  darkness  of  night, 
and  issuing  at  this  call  to  the  factories  in  the  early 
morning.  The  rousing  summons  reverberated  round 
the  Guard  House,  plentifully  decorated  with  man- 
ual shackles  at  the  time  I  speak  of,  some  of  which 
we  were  allowed  to  handle  on  the  previous  night 
over  a  pleasant  palaver  with  the  captain  in  com- 
mand. This  rule  of  nocturnal  retirement  was 
obviously  relaxed  whenever  a  negro  ball  was  given. 
We  had  the  privilege  of  being  invited  to  see  one 
of  these  amusements.  The  saltatory  features  of 


148  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

the  scene  here  given  were  quaint  yet  picturesque. 
The  minstrels  were  embowered  in  greenery  as  they 
played  waltzes  and  quadrilles,  which  were  danced 
with  great  zest,  and  the  hall  rang  with  good-humoured 
laughter.  The  refreshments  were  limited  to  spruce- 
beer,  of  which  we  drank  thankfully,  as  administering 
a  novel  sensation  to  the  jaded  palate.  The  striking 
features  of  negro  evening  dress  consisted  in  astonish- 
ing turbans  with  marabou  feathers,  into 
which  odd  accessories  of  squib  shape 
and  other  forms  were  inserted,  which 
gave  the  ladies  the  appearance  of  going 
off,  but  not  in  the  sense  usually  at- 
tached by  chaperons  to  the  term.  We 
went  home  in  hio-h  humour.  Truth 

O 

compels  me  to  state  that  if  a  prize 
had  to  be  awarded  for  expectorators, 
Charleston,  at  this  time,  would  have 
carried  off  the  palm.  The  spectacle 
has  been,  however,  depicted  on  a 
previous  page. 

More  exhilarating  groups  call  for  notice.  The 
entrance  hall  of  the  hotel  presents  rather  an  ani- 
mated scene,  Charleston  being  the  rendezvous  of 
several  lines  of  communication  from  New  York, 
Havannah,  or  elsewhere.  The  piles  of  trunks  form 
perfect  barricades,  which  can  be  contemplated  from 


150  WITH  THACKERA  Y  IN  AMERICA 

the  convenient  louugmg-benches  on  all  sides  by  the 
numerous  smokers  there  assembled. 

I  asked  a  young  negress  to  come  and  have  her 
likeness  taken  at  the  hotel,  and  she  did  so.  She 
was  a  pea-nut  seller,  was  quite  modest  and  re- 
tiring, but  she  confided  to  us  her  great  grievance 
against  one  of  the  known  ordinances  of  slavery. 
She  wished  to  go  and  see  a  play,  but  was  not 
allowed  the  privilege  at  that  time.  A  friend 
came  in,  to  whom  I  showed  the  sketch,  who  cor- 
roborated her  statement.  I  suppose  this  disability 
has  since  been  rescinded,  and  has  ceased  to  be  an 
order  enforced. 

Amongst  the  pleasant  remembrances  of  this  time 
was  that  of  meeting  Professor  Agassiz,  who  was  then 
lecturing  upon  such  subjects  as  Cryptogamous  Plants, 
and  Scientific  Surveys  of  Pine  and  Fir  Species.  It 
is  terrible  to  think  that  the  instructive  discourse  of 
such  a  master  of  science  falls  on  the  non-scientific 
mind  with  no  responsive  chord,  from  sheer  incom- 
petence to  assimilate  the  abstruse  matters  under 
discussion. 

Passing  now  from  gay  science  to  dull  fact,  the 
scene  of  the  Charleston  slave  auction  is  here  given,  as 
a  contrast  to  the  Richmond  version.  Here  it  was 
in  the  open  air,  and  by  its  picturesque  elements  lost 
many  of  its  dismal  features.  The  hands  to  be  disposed 


IN  CHARLESTON  MARKET 


151 


of  were  fine  .strapping  sons  of  toil.  There  were 
ninety  of  them,  all  coming  from  an  estate  which  was 
being  sold  off.  They  had  been  employed  in  the 
rice-fields  of  the  Combahee  river,  flowing  past  the 
Beaufort  and  Colleton  districts  towards  the  Atlantic. 
I  was  much  attracted  by  the  group  of  women, 
especially  by  a  stout  matron  clasping  her  infant  in 
her  arms,  to  whose  points  the  dealer  pointed  with 
emphasising  forefinger.  On  the  right  hand  was  to 
be  seen  the  emblematic  tree  of  the  State,  the  grace- 
ful palmetto,  protected  by  a  square  bar-grating.  Fur- 
ther away  was  an  earth-imbedded  howitzer,  acting  as 
prop  to  the  lounger.  Throw  in  the  old  Exchange 
walls  as  a  background,  the  tall  masts  of  the  cotton- 
laden  liners  in  the  far  distance,  and  the  not  inhar- 
monious dresses  of  the  slaves,  and  you  have  a  picture, 
painful  it  is  true,  but  also  quite  curious,  as  a  record 
of  bygone  slavery  times,  actually  reproduced  as  it  was, 
and  not  the  result  of  imaginary  composition. 


152  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

Leaving  these  throngs  of  labour  for  those  of 
fashion,  here  is  a  sketch  of  one  of  the  principal  streets 
of  Charleston,  the  chief  feature  of  it  being  St. 
Michael's  Church,  built  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  by  a  pupil  of  Wren's.  This  gives  it  quite 
an  old  English  air,  also  consonant  with  other  linger- 
ing Old  World  traditions  yet  found  here,  such  as 
often  sending  children  to  be  educated  in  Europe,  as 
was  done  by  their  forefathers. 

But  for  the  change  in  the  lady's  attire  as  to  her 
bonnet,  as  you  see  her  issuing  from  the  stationer's 
shop,  attended  by  a  negro  servant,  and  ready  to  step 
upon  the  semicircular  stone  into  her  carriage,  the 
whole  scene  reminds  one  of  the  old  prints  of  our 
squares  (where  some  of  these  stepping-stones  still 
survive)  a  hundred  years  ago. 

On  the  Charleston  Quays  the  negro  population 
affords  opportunities  for  the  pencil  in  their  physi- 
ognomy, their  dresses,  and  their  callings.  Look,  for 
example,  at  the  youth,  with  brush  in  hand,  dipping 
it  into  a  tar-pot,  in  order  to  mark  the  proper  hiero- 
glyphics upon  the  side  of  the  compressed  cotton  bale. 
There  he  sits  enthroned — not  a  bad  emblem  of  the 
saying  "Cotton  is  king."  Other  boys,  whose  faces 
reveal  varying  coloured  parentage,  please  by  a  sort  of 
general  good-humoured  intelligence.  You  trace  these, 
and  also  types  of  stalwart  men  marked  by  the  same 


154  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

characteristics.     To  these  may  be  joined  the  tripartite 
sketch    of    "Little    Rebecca,"    though    hailing    from 


ST.  MICHAEL'S  CHURCH,  CHARLESTON 


another  community,  yet  of  kindred  race,  and  beam- 
ing with  a  sort  of  self-contentment  always  pleasant 
to  witness. 


NEGRO   TYPES 


156 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


Farther  away,  when  leaving  haunts  of  the  hard 
toilers,  you  notice  market  women  awaiting  the  chance 
customers  for  their  sweet  potatoes,  luscious  bananas, 
and  other  products  of  that  generous  soil,  till  tired,  and 
passing  labyrinths  of  tiled  houses,  you  get  back  to  rest 
at  the  caravansary. 

The  balmy  April  atmosphere  had  brought  with  it 
the  freshly  imported  spring  toilettes  from  Paris,  had 
enhanced  the  famed  complexions  of  the  feminine 
portion  of  the  community,  and  had  enticed  them 
abroad  to  air  both  under  the  protecting  parasols 
which  they  carried  about  with  them  in  Broad- 
way, or  in  the  Carolinian  lounge  of  King  Street, 


HOTEL   THIEVES 


157 


or  beneath  the  ampler  shop-awnings,  screening  the 
already  fierce  sun's  rays.  In  church  pews,  too,  the 
winsome  faces  were  also  noticeable,  and  later  on  at 
the  dining-rooms  of  the  Clarendon  Hotel.  The  build- 
ing, topped  by  the  two 
"  Stars  and  Stripes " 
flagstaffs,  seen  in  the 
Broadway  sketch  (on  p. 
163),  is  the  then  newly 
opened  Metropolitan 
Hotel  of  brown  stone. 

American  hotels  are 
generally  well  placarded 
with  warning  notices 
enjoining  visitors  to  be 
on  their  guard  against 
the  depredations  of  the 
thieves  frequenting  them 
in  search  of  their  prey, 
also  an  Old  World  in- 
stitution. A  young 


1  COTTON   18  KlXli 


English  Engineer  officer, 
Rankin  by  name,  a  distant  relative  of  Thackeray, 
whom  we  had  met  on  the  boat  coming  from  Wilm- 
ington, fell  a  victim  to  their  wiles.  After  taking 
a  ride  out  of  Charleston,  he  came  back  to  find 
that  he  had  been  devalise.  His  luggage  ransacked 


158  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

and  his  money  gone,  he  appealed  to  Thackeray, 
his  kinsman,  who,  with  wonted  liberality,  allowed 
his  young  friend  to  get  back  to  his  regiment  at 
the  end  of  his  furlough.  As  a  sequel  he  and  his 
brother  gave  me  a  banquet  in  Paris  at  the  Maison 
Dore*e,  as  he  was  passing  through  on  his  way  to  the 
Crimea.  The  dinner  was  sumptuous,  but  on  examin- 
ing the  menu  the  critical  garc.on  exclaimed,  horrified : 
"Pas  de  roti,  monsieur  ?  "  as  if  the  absence  of  the  piece 
de  resistance  was  a  breach  of  the  known  laws  of  gas- 
tronomy. This  exclamation  increased  our  joviality. 
This  note  must  be  closed  with  a  sad  appendix  as  to 


SHOPPING,    CHARLESTON,   VA. 


A   CKJMEAN  HERO 


A    UROtP    OF    MAUKET-WOMEN 


the  fate  of  this  promising  officer.  He  was  one  of  the 
gallant  hand  told  off  to  explode  the  docks  of  Sebas- 
topol.  There  seemed  to  be  a  hitch  and  a  delay  in  the 
firing  of  the  mine ;  he  rushed  to  examine  the  cause, 
and  it  immediately  burst  up,  killing  him  on  the  spot. 
He  was  the  last  victim  of  this  lengthy  siege  and 
of  the  operations  in  the  Crimea,  I  believe. 

Leaving  Charleston  and  its  gallant  host  of  con- 
vivial friendships,  we  went  thence  to  Savannah  in 
Georgia,  the  furthest  goal  of  our  journey.  We 
reached  it  in  a  small  steamer — of  low  draught,  owing 
to  the  numerous  shallows  in  the  red-coloured  river 
leading  to  this  capital.  We  now  arrived  in  a  land 
unpaved  and  without  kerbstones  to  the  gangways, 
which  were  mere  sand-tracks.  These  had  the  great 
advantage  of  being  noiseless.  We  were  driven  to 


160 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


a  primitive  hotel,  the  home,  as  we  soon  discovered,  of 
legions  of  fleas  and  other  questionable  gentry.  Those 
who  had  the  "  White  Squall  "  ballad  by  heart  were 
reminded  of  the  passage 

"Then  all  the  fleas  in  Jewry 
Jumped  up  and  bit  like  fury  ; " 

or   of   that   Punch,   cartoon   of   an    "Arabian   Night's 

Entertainment." 
The  next  morning, 
on  coming  into  the 
chief's  bed-room,  I 
noticed  the  floor 
and  chairs  strewn 
with  lucif  ers,  ignited 
during  the  night  to 
tiy  and  catch  these 
disturbers  of  peace. 
His  face  and  limbs 
were  blotched  and 
bumped  with  the 
horrid  marks  of  the 
fray ;  but  balm  and 
salve  appeared  in  the 
form  of  our  cheery 
and  hospitable  Eng- 

AT  THE  "CLARENDON"  ,.   ,  _.  -          ,- _. 

lisn      Consul,      Mr. 
Low,    who    insisted    on    harbouring    first   Thackeray 


A   CELESTIAL  SCHOLAR 


161 


and  then  myself  in  his  delightful  private  residence, 
during  our  stay  here.  There  was  one  never-failing 
barometer  of  contentment  noticeable  in  Titmarshian 
avocations,  which  was  whenever  he  took  iip  his  gold 
nib  for  illustration  of  whatever  struck  his  fancy  at 
the  time.  At  Mr.  Low's  quarters  many  such  were 
produced.  One  of  these,  for  instance,  has  been  repro- 
duced in  fac-simile  in  Miss  Adelaide  Procter's  pleasant 
publication  the  "  Victoria  Regia"  for  1861.  It  is 
a  capital  sketch  of  a  little  negro  servant,  for  whom 
the  descriptive  text  invents  the  apt  word  of  "  Black- 
a-moorkin,"  not  as  yet  adopted  into  the  latest  dic- 
tionaries of  the  English  language.  I  am  unaware 
whether  this  sketch  was  done  on  the  occasion  of 
his  first  visit,  or  on  the  second  lecturing  tour,  as  no 
date  is  affixed  to  it.  But  whether  this  is  so  or  not,  I 
give,  as  it  were,  a  faint  pictorial  echo  of  mine  of  the 
same  subject,  as  it  includes  the  interesting  figure  of 
a  Chinese  divinity  student,  upon  whose  pigtail  the 
pickaninny  had  looked  with  undisguised  wonderment 
as  he  presented  him  with  a  cup  of  coffee.  He  used  to 
give  a  backward  scrape  of  his  bare  foot,  by  way 
of  acknowledgment,  when  a  coin  came  out  of  the 
Thackerayau  open  purse. 

The  endeavours  to  sketch  the  juvenile  negroes  in 
the  streets  I  found  almost  impossible,  owing  to  their 
extra  restlessness  of  limb  and  feature,  as  the  mere 


162 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


fact   of   staring  at  them  set  them    off  into   laughter- 
convulsions. 

In  the    afternoon,  at    school-closing   time,    we   met 


THE   CHINESE   DIVINITY    STUDENT 


the  gleeful  groups  of  boys,  both  black  and  white, 
escaping  from  their  class-rooms.  Accosting  one  of 
the  small  negro-boys,  Thackeray  asked  him,  with 
a  view  less  of  testing  his  knowledge  than  of 


164 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


benevolent  purpose,  to  spell  Con-stan-ti-no-ple.  This 
proving  beyond  him,  he  missed  his  tip,  and  went 
off  tumbling  head  over  heels  in  the  sand-tracked 
street. 

More  steady  were  the  old  hands,  some  of  whom 
ministered  to  the  juvenile  cravings  for  pea-nuts  and 
for  ground-cake.  Here  (p.  165)  is  one  of  them  I  noticed 
sitting  on  the  corner  of  Calhoun  Street,  as  she  chats 
with  an  old  crony  asking  after  her  health.  Her  answer, 
I  recollect,  was,  "  Thank  you,  I'm  mending  smart." 

Fires  flare  here,  even  more  fiercely  than  in  other 
towns  of  the  States,  the  buildings  being  mostly  con- 
structed of  wood.  Thirty  years  before  this  time  whole 


BONAVENTURA,  NEAR  SAVANNAH 


IN  GEORGIA 


165 


sections  had  been  swept  away,  yet  a  few  buildings  that 
were  spared  have  the  picturesque  construction  of  old 
plaster-and-beam  architecture. 

The  quays  were  piled  with  cotton-bales,  testifying 
to  the  industry  of 
the  negro  -  hands  ; 
and  to  the  staple 
production  of  the  ' 
district,  which  was 
whisked  about  on 
trollies,  the  charioteer 
standing  bolt  upright 
on  his  booted  legs, 
holding  the  reins. 

The  town  out- 
skirts afford  pleasant 
walks. 

Four  miles  from 
Savannah  is  one  of 
the  sights  to  which 
everyone  trends.  It  PEA-NUTS 

is    called     Bouaven- 

tura,  which  seems  somewhat  of  a  misnomer.  That 
Tuscan  patron-saint  wrote  a  book  with  the  title  of 
"  Lignum  Vitae,"  i.e.,  the  Cross,  which  he  decks 
miraculously  with  foliage.  Here,  by  an  odd  freak  of 
arboriculture,  the  tree's  foliage  is  covered  over  by 


166 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


a  drooping  funereal  lichen  resembling  a  perpetual 
downpour  of  rain ;  well  suited,  however,  to  the  de- 
stination of  the  cemetery,  which  it  shelters  with  its 
lachrymose  fronds.  The  trees  are  live  oaks,  with 
a  parasitical  growth  which  I  have  not  noticed  else- 
where. I  tried  to  catch  its  effect  in  'appropriate 
water-colour. 

Towards  the  end  of  March  the  lecturing  was  over. 
We  bade  farewell  to  the  kindest  of  hosts,  Mr.  Low, 
our  Consul  at  Savannah.  Though  the  mosquito  as  yet 
did  not  worry,  the  weather  began  to  be  unpleasantly 
hot. 

We  returned  to  Charleston,  which  was  also  getting 


A    NEW    YORK    CONGREGATION 


RETURN  FROM  THE  SOUTH  i67 

a  dash  of  summer  sun  at  this  early  time.  Our  eyes, 
freshened  by  green  Georgian  pastures,  now  felt  the 
effects  of  too  prolonged  contemplation  of  brick-and- 
mortar  frontages.  If  you  happen  to  be  yourself  sleep- 
less at  night,  the  snoring  slumbers  heard  through  thin 
partitions  seem  to  aggravate  your  restlessness.  We 
therefore  left  hospitable  Charleston,  and  returned  once 
more  to  our  comfortable  quarters  at  the  "Clarendon 
Hotel,"  New  York.  Not  without  disquiet  Thackeray 
heard  there  of  the  precarious  health  of  some  of  the 
elder  members  of  his  family  in  Europe. 

When  we  returned  to  New  York,  making  a  final 
stay  there  of  about  a  fortnight,  it  was  partly  with  the 
intention  of  going  to  Canada  as  a  lecturing  finale  ; 
but  by  repetition  the  task  had  grown  wearisome,  as 
before  hinted.  This  and  other  reasons  finally  prevail- 
ing against  further  venture,  the  notion  was  abandoned. 
This  two  weeks'  interval  was  pleasantly  filled  up.  I 
made  a  few  sketches  for  the  Appleton  firm,  who  paid 
me  liberally.  I  also  painted  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Henry 
James,  the  father  of  the  renowned  novelist-playwright, 
now  amongst  us,  which  was  pronounced  veiy  like ; 
and  I  did  this  con  amore,  not  only  with  a  view  to 
please  Mrs.  James,  to  whom  it  was  presented,  but 
being  personally  delighted  to  limn  the  features  of  one 
who  had  proved  himself  so  doughty  a  champion  and 
admirer  of  Thackeray  in  the  press  of  that  day. 


CHAPTER    V 

New  York  to  Albany — The  Senate — Lecturing — New  York — "  Lucy's 
Birthday  " — Farewell  to  the  States — The  Europa — Liverpool — 
Paris — Champs-Elysges  and  the  Latin  Quarter. 

FROM  New  York  a  pleasant  diversion  suggested 
itself  at  this  time.  On  Monday,  April  llth,  we  took 
the  train  from  New  York  to  Albany,  giving  us  a 
pleasant  glimpse  of  woodland  and  river  scenery  all 
the  way.  On  our  arrival  we  were  met  by  a  jovial 
skipper-friend  of  Thackeray's.  His  great  anxiety  was 
to  sequestrate  the  lecturer  in  the  privacy  of  his  hotel, 
with  the  idea  of  only  giving  the  privilege  of  seeing 
him  to  those  willing  to  pay  for  it  at  the  lecture- 
hall.  This  had  naturally  the  contrary  effect  4;o  that 
intended,  as  Thackeray  was  at  once  seized  with  an 
intense  desire  to  walk  about  and  to  see  the  town  for 
himself ;  so  we  sallied  out  with  that  view.  The  visit 
was  well  timed,  as  the  jaded  members  of  the  twin 
houses— the  Senate  and  the  Representatives — had  only 
two  or  three  session-days  left  before  disbanding,  their 
salaries  being  only  payable  for  200  sittings,  which 
then  expired,  when  relaxation  of  duty  coincided 


CLOSE  OF  A  SESSION 


169 


naturally  with  stoppage  of  salary.  The  then  Capitol 
was  a  plain  brown-stone  building,  since  this  period 
replaced  by  a  granite  structure  of  far  greater  pre- 
tentious architecturally.  So  I  suppose  the  cosy 
homely  abode  of  the  Senate,  as  I  then  sketched  it, 
with  its  circular  benches  groaning  under  piles  of 


THE  SENATE,  ALBANY 


reports  and  reference  volumes — its  members  chatting 
together  in  nooks  and  corners,  whilst  the  orator, 
scarcely  listened  to,  was  holding  forth,  and  its  presi- 
dent sitting  on  an  elevated  bench  under  the  portrait 
of  General  Washington — have  all  disappeared,  and 
have  made  way  for  more  imposing  senatorial 
decorum.  The  town  itself  had  at  this  time  but 


170  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

few  vestiges  of  the  old  Dutch  style  of  architec- 
ture, or  even  of  the  bricks,  which  themselves  used 
to  be  in  the  olden  time  imported  here  from  Hol- 
land. 

On  the  12th  the  second  lecture  was  given,  and 
I  think,  immediately  after  it  was  over,  we  got  into 
the  Hudson  River  steamer,  which  brought  us  back  to 
New  York.  The  papers  had  announced  that  Montreal 
would  next  be  visited,  but  Thackeray  had  possibly 
already  changed  his  mind  on  the  subject  of  further 
deliveries  of  the  lectures ;  and  this  turned  out  to  be 
the  last  given  in  the  United  States — a  welcome  wind- 
up  to  him. 

Thackeray's  pen  was  not  idle.  He  wrote  at  this 
comfortable  New  York  hostelry  the  now  famous  son- 
net, "Lucy's  Birthday,"  which  is  dated  15th  April. 
Within  a  month  of  writing  this,  I  had  the  pleasure, 
at  the  friendly  intercession  of  the  author's  daughter, 
Mrs.  Ritchie,  of  meeting  this  lady,  who  came  over 
to  this  country  for  the  first  time.  Her  presence  re- 
minded me  of  the  ever-charming  welcome  1 1  received 
in  the  midst  of  that  New  York  household,  that  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Baxter. 

At  this  time  the  absorbing  topic  was  a  Wash- 
ington telegram,  startling  political  quidnuncs.  It 
was  to  the  effect  that  President  Pierce  had  given  the 
appointment  of  the  Madrid  Embassy  to  Mr.  Pierre 


PIERRE  SOULfi 


171 


Soule.  When  it  was  first  flashed  over  the  wires,  people 
fond  of  making  diplomatic  forecasts  prognosticated  that 
this  meant  the  proximate  purchase  of  the  island  of 
Cuba  from  Spain.  This  solution  of  a  long-pending 
difficulty  was  amended  so  as  to  suggest  the  acquisi- 
tion of  this  possession,  leaving  out  financial  considera- 
tions ;  an  arrangement  which 
subsequent  events,  as  every- 
body knows,  completely  falsi- 
fied. However,  this  shrewd- 
looking,  bright -eyed  senator 
became  the  hero  of  the  hour, 
and  as  such  his  semblance  at 
this  time  is  here  introduced. 
The  ardent,  though  good- 
humoured,  advocates  for  and 
against  annexation  used  to 
meet  in  places,  and  you  over- 
heard them  discussing  the  topic  good-humouredly 
thus  over  the  fragrant  produce  of  the  island  itself, 
and  doubtless  they  made  the  best  of  what  portion  of 
Havannah  could  be  got. 

The  signal  for  departure  took  place  with  the 
suddenness  of  a  thunder-clap.  I  visited  Thackeray  in 
his  room  in  the  early  morning.  He  had  a  newspaper 
in  his  hand,  and  he  said,  "  I  see  there's  a  Cunarder 
going  this  morning,"  which  happened  to  be  the  20th  of 


172 


WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 


April.  "  I'll  go  down  to  Wall  Street  to  see  whether  I 
can  secure  berths  in  her;  meanwhile,  try  and  see 
all  the  traps  packed  up  and  ready."  As  we  were 

old  campaigners, 
the  thing  was  clone 
and  the  bills  paid 
in  the  nick  of  time. 
The  only  people  we 
had  time  to  shake 
hands  with  were  the 
friendly  family  of 
the  Baxters.  One 
of  the  ladies,  I  re- 
gret to  say,  wrote 
wittily  afterwards  to 
this  effect,  "  We 
shall  never  forgive 
Mr.  Crowe  for  the 
cheerful  expression 
upon  his  face  the  day 
he  went  away ! " 

Who  does  not  sigh  for  home  at  the  end  of  six  months, 
wherever  that  domicile  may  be  ?  At  about  eleven 
o'clock  we  were  speeding  down  Broadway ;  we  got  into 
a  boat  on  the  East  River,  and  were  greeted  by  the 
shipping  agent's  shout,  "Hurry  up  —  she's  starting!" 
and  we  had  hardly  had  time  to  get  on  board  when  we 


CAPE  CLEAR  173 

were  going  full  steam  on  to  Sandy  Hook.  The  name 
of  the  ship  was  the  Europa;  the  winds  were  propi- 
tious, and  at  times  all  sail  was  set. 

One  of  the  officers,  I  remember,  told  us  he  was  on 
lx.>ard  the  vessel  Dickens  went  out  in.  Thackeray 
asked  him  whether,  in  a  sailor's  estimation,  the  passage 
had  been  as  terrific  as  was  recorded  in  the  famous 
"  Notes,"  when  he  corroborated  the  Dickensiau  ver- 
sion in  every  particular.  Our  ship  had  fair  weather. 

Regardless  of  another  injustice  to  old  Ireland,  and 
although  not  many  miles  from  inland  Skibbereeu, 
when  we  noticed  the  picturesquely  perched  light- 
house on  the  rock  of  Cape  Clear  we  shouted  out 
"  Old  England ! "  in  the  bright,  early  morning  air. 

We  coasted  the  green-clad  cliffs  of  Cork,  and 
next  morning,  Sunday,  we  stepped  once  more  upon 
the  Liverpool  landing  stage,  and  got  housed  again 
in  the  "  Adelphi  "  there.  An  interval  of  six  months, 
almost  to  a  day  and  to  an  hour,  had  elapsed  since 
our  departure  on  our  first  passage  across  the  Atlantic. 

The  six  months'  sojourn  in  the  United  States, 
the  two  passages  across  the  Atlantic  inclusive,  were 
sandwiched,  as  it  were,  between  the  two  great  efforts 
of  the  Thackerayan  pen,  "Esmond,"  and  "The  New- 
comes."  Family  ties,  balmy  rest  for  the  body  from 
overstrained  travel,  and  search  after  the  inspiriting 
literary  tonic  ever  given  him  by  a  Parisian  visit,  led 


174  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

Thackeray  to  his  favourite  Champs  Elysees  once  more ; 
and  my  modest  avocation  as  pen-holder  being  at  an 
end,  I  also  came  to  the  same  city  in  search  of  artistic 
relaxation.  In  the  month  of  October,  1853,  came  out 
the  first  number  of  "  The  Newcomes,"  which  was 
illustrated  by  the  facile  and  graceful  pencil  of  Richard 
Doyle.  The  second  number,  that  of  November,  came 
to  hand  in  Paris  in  its  yellow  cover  complete.  The 
author,  who  had  not  before  seen  the  illustrations  to 
the  text,  was  much  put  out  on  seeing  one  of  these,  in 
which  the  games  of  the  Charterhouse  boys  were 
grouped.  There  were  football,  leap-frog,  and  wrest- 
ling going  on  in  mid-distance.  The  foreground  is 
admirably  composed  with  the  scene  of  the  youngster 
drawing  upon  his  banker,  Clive,  for  his  needed  coin. 
The  peccant  accessory  which  roused  the  wrath  of  the 
writer  was  the  group  of  two  boys  playing  at  marbles 
on  the  left  of  the  spectator.  "  Why,"  said  the  irate 
author,  "  they  would  as  soon  have  thought  of  cutting 
off  their  heads  as  play  at  marbles  at  the  Charter- 
house." This  woodcut  was,  I  noticed,  suppressed 
altogether  in  subsequent  editions.  Nor  was  this  a 
solitary  instance  of  tardy  regret  on  the  author's  part. 
As  much  of  the  subordinate  interest  of  the  novel  lay 
in  its  keen  insight  into  art-life  and  manners,  he  asked 
me  to  introduce  him  to  my  friend  Gerome,  the  world- 
renowned  painter  of  so  many  chefs-cFceuwre.  I  brought 


PARISIAN  STUDIES  175 

him  one  day  to  see  the  cluster  of  friendly  studios,  of 
which  Gerome's  was  the  central  one,  in  the  Rue  Notre- 
Dame-des-Champs — a  quarter  haunted  by  the  spirit  of 
Ste.-Beuve  and  other  literati  in  former  days.  We 
found  the  painter  had  just  completed  his  lar«-e 
composition  entitled  the  "Apotheosis  of  Augustus," 
now  honourably  placed  in  the  Amiens  Museum. 
Opposite  to  it  on  the  walls  of  his  studio  was  a 
beautifully-finished  but  small  composition,  which 
Thackeray  whispered  to  me  he  should  like  to  become 
possessor  of;  but  he  weighed  this  in  his  mind,  and 
said  nothing  to  the  author  of  it.  The  studios  of  Brion, 
the  Alsatian  painter,  who  gave  you  in  art  the  same 
delicate  pictures  of  life  strewed  in  the  pages  of  Erck- 
mann  and  Chatrian  ;  Schutzenberger,  a  clever  draughts- 
man of  scenes  from  the  same  locality;  Toulmouche, 
the  skilful  illustrator  of  manners  and  modes  of  the  last 
century  and  of  our  own  time,  one  and  all  threw  open 
their  doors  to  welcome  him.  His  exclamation,  after 
our  leave-taking  was  over,  and  when  we  strolled  back 
through  the  picturesque  avenues  of  the  Luxembourg 
Gardens,  was,  "  I  wish  I  had  seen  this  before !" 

It  is  mere  conjecture  on  my  part ;  but  the  impres- 
sion left  upon  me  at  the  time  was  that  the  "grand 
serenity "  to  which  he  alluded,  pervading  this  mental 
atmosphere,  if  previously  received  as  an  impression, 
might  have  helped  t<>  modify  his  artistic  lucubrations 


176  WITH  THACKERAY  IN  AMERICA 

in  "The  Newcomes."  The  efforts  of  Clive  Newconie, 
and  those  of  J.  J.,  earnest  as  the  latter  are,  seldom 
escape  the  bonds  of  amateurishness.  The  great  ro- 
mance, on  the  other  hand,  might  have  suffered  by 
deviating  from  its  intended  course.  The  incident  is 
here  noted  as  indicative  of  the  waves  of  indecision, 
assailing  at  times  fixed  literary  resolves.  No  one, 
now,  is  there,  who  would  not  regret  that  one  sentence 
of  that  romance  were  either  altered  or  scored  off. 

I  now  once  more  got  into  pictorial  harness ;  and, 
to  my  delight,  I  found  Thackeray's  kindly  prediction 
"  that  I  should  be  none  the  worse  for  the  short  break 
in  my  artistic  career"  fully  verified. 


INDEX 


••  Adelphi."  The,  Liverpool,  8. 

Agassiz,  Professor,  150. 

Albany.  109. 

Albany,  the  Senate,  169. 

Allston.  Washington,  72. 

American  Barbers,  138. 

American  Newsboys,  21. 

Ap|>omattox,  On  the  Banks  of  the,  141. 

Athenanun  Club,  The,  5. 

Auctioneering,  79. 

Bailey  Brothers,  12. 

Ball. 'Black  &  Co.,  81. 

Baltimore,  106. 

Baltimore  Hospitalities,  113. 

Bancroft,  Mr,  39. 

Bangs  Brothers  &  Co.,  48. 

Barnutn.  56. 

Barn  urn's  Museum,  57. 

ApMit,  00. 

Hotel,  105. 

Baxter,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  170. 
"  Belsha/zar's  Feast,"  72. 
Beranger,  10. 
Bona vent  lira,  164,  165. 
Boston,  08. 

Harbour,  18. 

from  Bunker's  Hill,  29. 

.  The  Museum  of  Pictures,  70. 

.  The  Sessions,  70. 

Brion,  175. 

Broadway  Omnibus,  The,  56. 
Brooklyn,  49. 
Bunn,  The  Poet,  23. 
12 


Canada,  On  Board  the,  43. 
Canada,  The  (Capt.  Lang),  13. 
Cape  Clear,  173,  176. 
"Century"  Club,  The,  51. 
Chapin's  Church,  The  Rev.  Mr.,  51. 
Charleston  Daily  Courier,  The,  145. 
Charleston  Hotel,  The,  33,  145. 
Charleston,  Slave  Auctions  at,  150. 

— ,  St.  Michael's  Church,  152,  154. 
Clarendon  Hotel,  New  York,  37. 
Clinton  Hall,  New  York,  90. 
Clough,  Arthur  Hugh,  15. 
Coasting,  74. 

"  Conformateur,"  The,  04 
Crampton,  Sir  Philip,  112. 
Curtis,  G.  W.,  68. 

Dangerous  Sport,  89. 
Degan,  Mr.,  70. 
Dickens,  Charles,  18,  173. 
Drinks,  01. 

"  Esmond,"  3. 

—  Reprints,  49. 
Europa,  The,  173. 
Execution  Morning,  An,  91. 
Expectorators,  32. 

Pagan,  Mr.,  4. 

Felt,  Mr.  Millard,  45. 

"  Fielding  "  Club,  The,  7. 

Fields,  Mr.,  7. 

Fillmore,  President,  114. 

Fillmore  and  Pierce,  Presidents,  116. 


178 


INDEX 


Fish,  Senator  Hamilton,  112. 
Fort  Columbus,  93. 
Frasers  Magazine,  69. 
"  Freemason's  Tavern,"  The,  8. 

Genin's,  John  N.,  Hat  Store,  62. 
Gerome,  175. 
Greeley,  Horace,  42. 

Harper,  IJr.  James,  66. 
Harpers,  Messrs.,  65. 
Henningsen,  C.  F.,  107. 
Hicks,  Thomas,  74. 
Houdon's     "General     Washington," 
137. 

Independence  Hall,  109. 

James,  George  Payne  Rainsford,  67. 
James  (Senior),  Mr.  Henry,  44,  167. 

Kensett,  51. 

Lafarge  House,  The,  53. 

Lang,  Capt.,  15. 

Lawrence,  The  Hon.  Abbott,  6. 

Littledale,  Mr.  Thomas,  12. 

Liverpool  Mercury,  The,  9. 

Low,  Mr.,  160. 

Lowell,  Russell,  14. 

Meagher,  Thomas  Francis,  86. 
Mercantile  Library,  New  York,  The, 

6. 

—  Exchange,  New  York,  The,  77. 
"Metropolitan,"  The,  53. 
Morton,  Savile,  of  the  Daily  News, 
10. 

National  Restaurant,  The,  124. 
Negro  Ball,  A,  147. 


Negro  Types,  152,  154,  155. 
"  Newcomes,  The,"  173,  174. 
New  York,  34,  110. 
New  York  Daily  Tribune,  135. 

Ossoli,  Margaret  Fuller,  73. 

Panizzi,  Sir  Antonio,  4. 

Parker,  The  Rev.  Theodore,  41. 

Parry's  Library,  Liverpool,  9. 

Penn,  William,  102. 

Petersburg,  Va.,  140. 

Philadelphia,  101. 

Pierce,  President,  130,  170. 

Pierce  and  Fillmore,  Presidents,  116. 

Pipe  Office,  The,    Derivation  of  the 

Name,  32. 
Prescott,  William  Hickling,  30. 

— ,  Col.  William,  30. 
Providence,  Rhode  Island,  68. 
Punch,  160. 

Race,  Cape,  16. 

Rankin,  Mr.,  157. 

Ratcliffe,  Mr.,  12. 

Richmond,  126. 

Richmond,  Va.,  130. 

Richmond,  Va.,  The  State  House  at, 

137. 

Ritchie,  Mrs.,  7,  170. 
Rossi,  Countess  (Mine.  Sontag),  25. 
Rushton,  Edward,  11. 

Savannah,  Georgia,  159. 
Schiitzenberger,  175. 
"Sketch "Club,  The,  51. 
Slave  Sale,  A,  131. 
j  Sleigh-Stages,  88. 
Sontag,  Mine.  (Countess  Rossi),   24, 

25. 
Soule,  Pierre,  171. 


INDEX 


179 


Stewart's  Hal>erdashery  Shop,  54.  70. 
Stowe.  Mrs.  Beecher,  35. 
Sunnier.  Charles,  121. 

Thackeray,  1. 

—  ut  work  on  "Esmond,"  3. 
al  the  Athena-urn,  5. 

,  Letter  from  the  New  York  Mer- 
cantile Library,  0. 
ami  Mr.  Fields,  7. 

—  at  the  "  Fielding,"  7. 
at  the  "  Trafalgar,"  8. 

at  the  "  Freemason's  Tavern,"  8. 

,  "  Dit-key  Sum"  in  the  LiivrjMMtl 

Hrmiry,  9. 
,  the  Two  Courses  of  Lectures  at 

Manchester  and  Liver|>ool,  9. 

—  hears  of  the  Death  of  his  Friend 
Savile  Morton,  10. 

.  Kdward  Hushton,  11. 

,  Hostile    References  in    a     New 

York  Pa|»er,  11. 

.  his  Appreciation  of  Roast  Suck- 
ing-pig, 12. 
— ,  Departure  from  Liverpool,  13. 

,  Undemonstrative  Reception   in 

America.  18. 

,  his  Opinion   of   "Uncle  Tom's 

Cabin,"  35. 

,  ihe  First  Course  of  Lectures,  47. 

,  Interview  with  Barnum,  59. 

,  Interview  with  James  Harper, 

GO. 
— ,  the  Pirate's  Daughter,  GO. 

—  at  the  "  Melodeon,"  Boston,  70. 
.      Meeting     with     Washington 

Irving,  84. 

,  Conversation  with  "Meagherof 

the  Sword,"  86. 


Thackeray,    Mr.    T.     B.    Reed    and 
Hand  Inunemor,  109. 

— ,  "Charity  and  Humour,"  110. 

at  Baltimore,  113. 

at  Washington,  115. 

— ,  "The  Iron  Jackson,"  120. 
at  the  Congress,  122. 

—  Lectures  at  the  Hibernian  Hall 
Church,  146. 

,  his  Kindness  to  his  Cousin,  Mr. 

Rankin,  157. 
— ,  Mr.  Low's  Hospitality,  100.  1«1. 

—  and  the  Negro  Boys,  104. 
— ,  "  Lucy's  Birthday,"  170. 

— ,   Sudden  Departure   for   Home, 
173. 

,  "  The  Newcomes,"  173,  174. 

— ,    Visit    to    Studios    of    French 

Artists,  175. 
Thanksgiving  Day.  52. 
Ticknor,  George,  31. 
Tobacco  Testing  at  Richmond,  Va., 

129. 

Tombs  Prison,  The,  90. 
Toulmouche,  175. 
"  Trafalgar,"  The,  8. 
Tremont  House,  21. 

"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  35. 
"Virginians,  The,"  30. 

Wall  Street,  78. 
Washington  Irving,  82. 
Webb.  General,  4. 
Webster,  Daniel,  29,  74. 
Williams,  The  Rev.  Eleazar,  82. 
Wilmington,  144. 


DRIEF  LIST  of  Books  of  Fiction  Published 
*-*    by    Charles    Scribner's    Sons,    743-745 
Broadway,  New  York. 


William  Waldorf  Astor. 

Valentino:  An  Historical  Romance.  121110,  $1.00.  Sforza :  A 
Story  of  Milan.  121110,  $1.50. 

"The  story  is  full  of  clear-cut  little  tableaux  of  mediaeval  Italian 
manners,  customs  and  observances.  The  movement  throughout  is 
spirited,  the  reproduction  of  bygone  times  realistic.  Mr.  Astor  has 
written  a  romance  which  will  heighten  the  reputation  he  made  by 
'Valentino.'"—  The  New  York  Tribune. 

Arlo  Bates. 

A  Wheel  of  Fire.     121110,  paper,  so  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.00. 

"  The  novel  deals  with  character  rather  than  incident,  and  is  evolved 
from  one  of  the  most  terrible  of  moral  problems  with  a  subtlety  not 
unlike  that  of  Hawthorne. "—  The  Critic. 

Hjalmar  H.  Boyesen. 

Falconberg.  Illustrated.  121110,  $i.so.  Gunnar.  Sq.  121110, 
paper,  so  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.25.  Tales  from  Two  Hemispheres. 
Sq.  I2mo,  $1.00.  Ilka  on  the  Hill  Top,  and  Other  Stories. 
Sq.  i2mo,  $1.00.  Queen  Titania.  Sq.  i2mo,  $1.00.  Social 
Stragglers.  i2mo,  $1.25. 

"  Mr.  Boyesen's  stories  possess  a  sweetness,  a  tenderness  and  a 
drollery  that  are  fascinating,  and  yet  they  are  no  more  attractive  than  they 
are  strong." — The  Home  Journal. 

H.  C.  Bunner. 

The  Story  of  a  New  York  House.     Illustrated  by  A.   B.  Frost. 

121110,  $1.25.     The  Midge.     i2mo,  paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.00. 

Zadoo  Pine,  and  Other  Stories.      i2mo,  paper,  50  cts. ;    cloth, 

Si. oo. 

"It  is  Mr.  Bunner's  delicacy  of  touch  and  appreciation  of  what  is 
literary  art  that  give  his  writings  distinctive  quality.  Everything  Mr. 
Bunner  paints  shows  the  happy  appreciation  of  an  author  who  has  not 
alone  mental  discernment,  but  the  artistic  appreciation.  The  author  and 
the  artist  both  supplement  one  another  in  this  excellent  '  Story  of  a  New 
York  House.'"—  The  New  York  Times. 


SCRIBNER'S    BRIEF    LIST   OF    FICTION. 


Frances  Hodgson  Burnett. 

That  Lass  0'  Lowne's.  Illustrated.  Paper,  50  cts.;  cloth,  $1.25. 
Hdworth's.  Illustrated.  121110,  $1.25.  Through  One  Admin- 
istration. i2mo,  $1.50.  Louisiana.  121110,  $1.25.  A  Fair 
Barbarian.  121110,  paper,  5octs.;  cloth,  $1.25.  Vagabundia  : 
A  Love  Story.  12010,  paper,  50  cts.  ;  cloth,  $1.25.  Surly  Tim, 
and  Other  Stories.  i2mo,  $1.25.  Earlier  Stories.  First  Series. 
Earlier  Stories.  Second  Series.  i2mo,  each,  paper,  50  cts.; 
cloth,  $1.25.  The  Pret  y  Sister  of  Jose.  Illustrated  by  C.  S. 
Reinhart.  i2mo,  $1.00. 

Little  Lord  Fauntleroy.  Sq.  8vo,  $2.00.  Sara  Crewe.  Sq. 
Svo,  $1.00.  Little  Saint  Elizabeth,  and  Other  Stories.  i2mo, 
$1.50.  Illustrated  by  R.  B.  Birch. 

"  Mrs.  Burnett  discovers  gracious  secrets  in  rough  and  forbidding 
natures  —  the  sweetness  that  often  underlies  their  bitterness  —  the  soul  of 
goodness  in  things  evil.  She  seems  to  have  an  intuitive  perception  of 
character."  —  RICHARD  HENRY  STODDARD. 

William  Allen  Butler. 

Domesticus.     A  Tale  of  the  Imperial  City.     121110,  $1.25. 


"  Under  a  veil  made  intentionally  transparent,  the  author  maintains  a 
nning  fire  of  good-natured  hits 
New  York  Journal  of  Commerce. 


, 
running  fire  of  good-natured  hits  at  contemporary  social  follies."  —  The 

ew  Yo 


George  W.  Cable. 

The  Grandissimes.  i2mo,  paper,  50  cts.;  cloth,  $1.25.  Old 
Creole  Days.  i2mo,  cloth,  $1.25  ;  also  in  two  parts,  paper, 
each,  30  cts.  Dr.  Sevier.  i2mo,  paper,  50  cts.  ;  cloth,  $1.25. 
Bonaventure.  i2mo,  paper,  50  cts.  ;  $1.25. 

The  set,  4.  vols.,  $5.00. 

"  There  are  few  living  American  writers  who  can  reproduce  for  us  more 
perfectly  than  Mr.  Cable  does,  in  his  best  moments,  the  speech,  the 
manners,  the  whole  social  atmosphere  of  a  remote  time  and  a  peculiar 
people.  A  delicious  flavor  of  humor  penetrates  his  stories." 

—  The  New  York  Tribune. 

Rebecca  Harding  Davis. 

Silhouettes  of  American  Life.    1  21110,  paper,  50  cts.  ;  cloth,  $i  .00. 

"  There  are  altogether  thirteen  stories  in  the  volume,  all  written  in  that 
direct,  forcible  style  which  is  Mrs.  Davis's  distinctive  merit  as  a  producer  of 
fiction."  —  Boston  Beacon. 


SCRIBNER'S   BRIEF    LIST   OF    FICTION.  3 

Richard  Harding  Davis. 

Gallegher,  and  Other  Stories.     12010,  paper,  50  cts.  ;  cloth,  $1.00. 

The  ten  stories  comprising  this  volume  attest  the  appearance  of  a  new 
and  strong  individuality  in  the  field  of  American  fiction.  They  are  of  a 
wide  range  and  deal  with  very  varied  types  of  metropolitan  character  and 
situation  ;  hut  each  proves  that  Mr.  Davis  knows  his  New  York  as  well  as 
Dickens  did  his  London. 

Edward  Ego  lest  on. 

Roxy.     The  Circuit   Rider.    Illustrated.     Each,  121110,  $1.50. 

"Dr.  Eggleston's  fresh  and  vivid  portraiture  of  a  phase  of  life  and 
manners,  hitherto  almost  unrepresented  in  literature  ;  its  boldly  contrasted 
characters,  and  its  unconventional,  hearty,  religious  spirit,  took  hold  of  the 
public  imagination." — The  Christian  Union. 

Erckmann-Cbatrian. 

The  Conscript.  Illustrated.  Waterloo.  Illustrated.  Sequel  to  The 
Conscript.  Madame  Therese.  The  Blockade  of  Phalsburg. 
Illustrated.  The  Invasion  of  France  in  1814.  Illustrated.  A 
Miller's  Story  of  the  War.  Illustrated. 

The  National  Novels,  each,  $/.^j  ;  the  sets.  6  vol.,  $7.50. 

Friend  Fritz.     121110,  paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  81.2=;. 

Eugene  Field. 

A  Little  Book  of  Profitable  Tales.     iomo,  $1.25. 
"  This  pretty  little  volume  promises  to  perpetuate  examples  of  a  wit, 
humor,  and  pa'thos  quaint  and  rare  in  their  kind."— New  York   Tribune. 

Harold  Frederic. 

Seth's  Brother's  Wife.    121110,81. 2*.     The  Lawton  Girl.    121110, 

$1.25  ;  paper,  50  cts.    In  the  Valley.    Illustrated,     lamo,  $1.50. 

"  It  is  almost  reasonable  to  assert  that  there  has  not  been  since  Cooper's 

day  a  better  American  novel  dealing  with  a  purely  historical  theme  Ihan 

'In  the  Valley.'"— Boston  Beaton. 

James  Anthony  Froude. 

The    Two    Chiefs  of  Dunboy.    An    Irish    Romance  of  the   Last 

Century.     121110,  paper,  so  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.50. 

"The  narrative  is  full  of  vigor,  spirit  and  dramatic  power  It  will 
unquestionably  be  widely  read,  for  it  presents  a  vivid  and  life-like  study  of 
character  with  romantic  color,  and  adventurous  incident  for  the  back- 
ground."— The  New  York  Tribune. 


4  SCRIBNER'S    BRIEF    LIST   OF    FICTION. 

Robert  Grant. 

Face  to  Face.  12010,  paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $i  .25.  The  Reflec- 
tions of  a  Married  Man.  i2mo,  paper,  50  cts.;  cloth,  $1.00. 

"  In  the  '  Reflections,'  Mr.  Grant  has  given  us  a  capital  little  book  which 
should  easily  strike  up  literary  comradeship  with  '  The  Reveries  of  a 
Bachelor.'" — Boston  Transcript. 

Edward  Everett  Hale. 

Philip  Nolan's  Friends.   Illust'd.  12010,  paper,  50 cts.;  cloth, $1.50. 

"  There  is  no  question,  we  think,  that  this  is  Mr.  Hale's  completest  and 
best  novel." — The  Atlantic  Monthly. 

Marion  Harland. 

Judith.  i2mo,  paper,  50  cts.;  cloth,  $1.00.  Handicapped. 
i2mo,  $1.50.  With  the  Best  Intentions.  12010,  cloth,  Si.oo; 
paper,  so  cts. 

"  Fiction  has  afforded  no  more  charming  glimpses  of  old  Virginia  life 
than  are  found  in  this  delightful  story,  with  its  quaint  pictures,  its  admir- 
ably drawn  characters,  its  wit,  and  its  frankness." 

—  The  Brooklyn  Daily   Times. 

Joel  Chandler  Harris. 

Free  Joe,  and  Other  Georgian  Sketches.       i2tno,  paper,  50  cts.; 

cloth,  $1.00. 

"  The  author's  skill  as  a  story  writer  has  never  been  more  felicitously 
illustrated  than  in  this  volume." — The  New  York  Sun. 

Augustus  Allen  Hayes. 

The  Jesuit's  Ring.     i2tno,  paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.00. 
"  The  conception  of  the  story  is  excellent." — The  Boston   Traveller. 

George  A.  Hibbard. 

The  Governor,  and  Other  Stories.      121110,  cloth,  $1.00;    paper, 

50  cts. 

"It  is  still  often  urged  that,  except  in  remote  corners,  there  is  nothing 
in  our  American  life  which  appeals  to  the  artistic  sense,  but  certainly  these 
stories  are  American  to  the  core,  and  yet  the  artistic  sense  is  strong  in  them 
throughout. " — Critic. 

E.   T.  W.  Hoffmann. 

Weird  Tales.     With  Portrait.     i2mo,  2  vols.,  $3.00. 

"  All  those  who  are  in  search  of  a  genuine  literary  sensation,  or  who 
care  for  the  marvelous  and  supernatural,  will  find  these  two  volumes  fas- 
cinating reading."— 7^  Christian  Union. 


SCRIBNER'S    BRIEF    LIST   OF    FICTION.  5 

Dr.  J.  G.  Holland. 

Sevenoaks.  The  Bay  Path.   Arthur  Bonnicastle.  Miss  Gilbert's 
Career.    Nicholas  Minturn.    Each,  i2mo, $1.25;  the  set,  $6.25. 
Sevenoaks  and  Arthur  Bonnicastle.    Each,  paper,  5oc. 

"  Dr.  Holland  will  always  find  a  congenial  audience  in  the  homes  of 
culture  and  refinement.  He  does  not  affect  the  play  of  the  darker  and 
fiercer  passions,  but  delights  in  the  sweet  images  that  cluster  around  the 
domestic  hearth.  He  cherishes  a  strong  fellow-feeling  with  the  pure  and 
tranquil  life  in  the  modest  social  circles  of  the  American  people,  and  has 
thus  won  his  way  to  the  companionship  of  many  friendly  hearts." 

—  The  New  York  Tribune. 

Thomas  A.  Janvier. 

Color  Studies,  and  a  Mexican  Campaign,     i2mo,  paper,  50  cts.; 

cloth  s  $1.00. 

"Piquant,  novel  and  ingenious,  these  little  stories,  with  all  their  simplicity, 
have  excited  a  wide  interest.  The  best  of  them,  'Jaune  D'Antimoine,'  is 
a  little  wonder  in  its  dramatic  effect,  its  ingenious  construction."—  Critic. 

Andrew  Lang. 

The  Mark  of  Cain.     121110,  paper,  2s  cts. 

"  No  one  can  deny  that  it  is  crammed  as  fulf  of  incident  as  it  will  hold, 
or  th:it  the  elaborate  plot  is  worked  out  with  most  ingenious  perspicuity." 

—  The  Saturday  Review. 

George  P.  Latbrop. 

Newport,  i  21110,  paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $i  .25.  An  Echo  of  Passion. 
i2mo,  paper,  so  cts.;  cloth,  $1.00.  In  the  Distance.  121110, 
paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  Si  .00. 

1 '  His  novels  have  the  refinement  of  motive  which  characterize  the 
analytical  school,  but  his  manner  is  far  more  direct  and  dramatic." 

—  The  Christian  Union. 

Brander  Matthews. 

The  Secret  of  the  Sea,  and  Other  Stories,     ismo,  paper,  50  cts.; 

cloth,  Si. oo.     The  Last  Meeting,     ismo,  cloth,  $1.00. 
"  Mr   Matthews  is  a  man  of  wide  observation  and  of  much  familiarity 
with  the  world.     His  literary  style  is  bright  and  crisp,  with  a  peculiar 
srarkle  about  it— wit  and  humor  judiciously  mingled— which  renders  nis 
pa?es  more  than  ordinarily  interesting."—  The  Rochester  Post-Express. 

George  Moore. 

Vain  Fortune.     i=mo,  Si.oo. 

"How  a  woman's  previous  ideas  and  actions  will  completely  change 
when  the  medium  of  a  wild,  intense  love  is  interposed,  was  never  more 
skilfully  sketched."— Boston  Times. 


6  SCRIBNER'S    BRIEF    LIST   OF    FICTION. 

Fit^-James  O'Brien. 

The  Diamond  Lens,  with  Other  Stories.     12010,  paper,  50  cts. 

"These  stories  are  the  only  things  in  literature  to  be  compared  with 
Foe's  work,  and  if  they  do  not  equal  it  in  workmanship,  they  certainly  do 
not  yield  to  it  in  originality." —  The  Philadelphia  Record. 

Duffield  Osborne. 

The  Spell  of  Ashtaroth.     121110,  fci.oo. 

"  It  has  a  simple  hut  picturesque  plot,  and  the  si  my  is  told  in  a  vividly 
dramatic  way." — Chicago  Times. 

Bliss  Perry. 

The  Broughton  House.     121110,  $1.2;. 

"  A  wonderfully  shrewd  and  vivid  picture  of  life  in  one  of  our  hill 
towns  in  summer." — Hartford  Post. 

Tkomas  Nelson  Page. 

In  Old  Virginia.  Marse  Chan  and  Other  Stories.  i2mo,  Si  25. 
On  Newfound  River.  121110,  Si. oo.  Elsket,  and  Other  Stories. 
i2tno,$i.oo.  Marse  Chan.  Ills,  by Smedley.  Sq.  121110.  Si.so. 

''Mr.  Page  enjoys  the  distinction  of  having  written  the  most  exquisite 
story  of  the  war  ('  Marse  Chan'),  which  has  yet  appeared.  His  stories 
are  beautiful  and  faithful  pictures  of  a  society  now  become  a  portion  and 
parcel  of  the  irrevocable  past." — llc.rp  rs  Magazine. 

George  I.  Putnam. 

In  Blue  Uniform.     121110,  yi.oo. 

The  author  <  f  this  love  story,  who  ij  an  ex-army  officer,  has  given  a 
very  natural  picture  of  garrison  life  in  the  Far  West,  witli  strong  character 
studies,  and  a  sufficient  diversity  of  incident  to  give  movement  and  cumu- 
lative interest  to  the  tale. 

Saxe  Holm's  Stories. 

First  Series.   Second  Series.   Each,  ismo,  paper,  jcc;  cloth,  $1.00. 

"  Saxe  Holm's  characters  are  strongly  drawn,  and  she  goes  right  to  the 
heart  of  human  experience,  as  one  who  knows  the  way.  We  heartily 
commend  them  as  vigorous,  wholesome,  and  sufficiently  exciting  stories.'' 

—  The  Advance. 


SCRIBNER'S    BRIEF    LIST    OF    FICTION. 


S fortes  from  Scribner. 

Stories  of  New  York.  Illustrated.  From  Four  to  Six,  by  Annie 
Eliot  ;  The  Commonest  Possible  Story,  by  Bliss  Perry ;  The  End  of 
the  Beginning,  by  George  A.  Hibbard  ;  A  Puritan  Ingenue,  by 
John  S.  Wood  ;  Mrs.  Manstey's  View,  by  Edith  Wharton. 

Stories  of  the  Railway.     Illustrated.     As  the  Sparks  Fly  Upward, 
by  George  A.   Hibbard;  How   1   Sent  My  Aunt  to  Baltimore,  by 
Charles  S.    Davison  ;    Run  t  j  Seed,   by  Thomas  Nelson    Page  ; 
Flandroe's    Mogul,   by  A.   C.    Gordon. 
In  /'r,-s.t .        Stories  of  the  South.  Stories  of  Italy. 

Stories  of  the  Sea.  Stories  of  the  Army. 

Illustrated.     Each,  lomo,  paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  75  cts. ;  half  calf,  GI.SO. 

The   stories   in   these   attractive   little   volumes   are  among  the   most 

popular  of  those  that  have  been  published  in  "  Scribner's  Magazine."   They 

are  daintily  bound,  and  fully  and  beautifully  illustrated. 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 

Strange    C  ise  of   Dr.    Jekyll    and    Mr.    Hyde.     121110,  paper, 

2S  cts  ;  cloth,  I'I.IM)      Kidnapped,     121110,  paper,  so  cts.;  cloth, 

ill.,   $1.2 s.      The    Merry    Men,   and   Other   Tales  and    Fables. 

121110,   paper,   ;s  cts.;    cloth,  $i.cx>.      New    Arabian    Nights: 

121110,  paper.  ;>  cts  ;   cloth,   $1.00.     The  Dynamiter.     i2mo, 

paper,  ;o  cts  ;  cloth,  GI.OO.     The  Black   Arrow.     111.     121110, 

paper,  v>  cts  ;  cloth,  Si.o:>      The  Wrong  Box.     121110,  paper, 

so  cts. ;  cloth,  GI  oo.    The  Master  of  Ballantrae.    1 21110,  paper, 

so  cts.;   cloth,  ill.,  Si.2s.     The   Wrecker.     121110,  ill.,  Si.2s. 

Island  Nights'  Entertainments.     121110,  ill.,  $i.2S. 

"Stevenson  belongs  t)  the  romantic  school  of  fiction  writers.     He  is 

original  in  style,  charming,   fascinating,  and  delicious,  witli  a  marvelous 

command  of  words,  and  with  a  manner  ever  delightful  and  magnetic." 

— Boston    Transcript. 

Charles  Warren  Stoddard. 

South  Sea  Idyls.     121110,  $i. so. 

"Brimful  of  deliciou;  descriptions  of  South  Sea  Island  life.  Neither 
Lot!  nor  Stevenson  has  expressed  from  tropical  life  the  luscious,  fruity 
delicacy,  or  the  rich  wine-like  bouquet  of  these  sketches."— Independent. 

T.  R.  Sullivan. 

Day  and    Night   Stories.     First  and  Second  Series.     Each,   121110, 

cloth,  $1.00;  paper,  so  cts.     Roses  of  Shadow.     121110,81 
"Mr     Sullivan's  style  is  at  once   easy  and  refined,   conveying   most 
happilv  that  atmosphere  of  good  breeding  and  polite  society  which  is 
indispensable  to  the   novel  of  manners,   but  which   so   many  ol  them 
lamentably  fail  of.''—  The  Nation. 


8  SCRIBNER'S    BRIEF    LIST   OF    FICTION. 

Frederick  J.  Stimson  (J.  S.  of  Dale). 

Guerndale.  i2mo,  paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.25.  The  Crime  of 
Henry  Vane.  i2mo,  paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.00.  The  Senti- 
mental Calendar.  111.  121110,  $1.00.  First  Harvest.  121110, 
$1.25.  The  Residuary  Legatee.  i2mo,  paper,  35  cts.;  cloth, 
$1.00.  In  the  Three  Zones.  12010,  $1.00. 

"  No  young  novelist  in  this  country  seems  better  equipped  than  Mr. 
Stimson  is." — The  Philadelphia  Bulletin. 

Frank  R.  Stockton. 

Rudder  Grange.     121110,  paper,  60  cts.;  cloth,  $1.25;  illustrated  by 
A.  B.  Frost,  Sq.   i2mo,  $2.00.     The  Late  Mrs.  Null.     121110, 
paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.25.    The  Lady,  or  The   Tiger?   and 
Other  Stories.     i2mo,  paper,  50  cts.;  cloth,  $1.25.     The  Christ- 
mas Wreck,  and  Other  Stories.      i2mo,  paper,  50  cts.;   cloth, 
$1.25.    The  Bee-Man  of  Orn,  and  Other  Fanciful  Tales.     i2mo, 
cloth,  $1.25.      Amos   Kilbright,  with   Other    Stories.       lamo, 
paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.25.      The  Rudder  Grangers  Abroad, 
and  Other  Stories.     i2mo,  paper,  50  cts  ;  cloth,  $1.25. 
"Of  Mr.  Stockton's  stories  what  is  there  to  say,  but  that  they  are  an 
unmixed  blessing  and  delight?     He  is  surely  one  of  the  most  inventive  of 
talents,  discovering  not  only  a  new  kind  in  humor  and  fancy,  but  accumu- 
lating an  inexhaustible  wealth  of  details  in  each  fresh  achievement,  the 
least  of  which  would  be  riches  from  another  hand." — W.  D.  HOWELLS. 

Stories  by  American  Authors. 

Cloth,  ibmo,  jo  cts.  each  y   set,  10  vols. ,  $5.00 ;  cabinet  edition, 

in  sets  only,  $7  ..50. 

"  The  public  ought  to  appreciate  the  value  of  this  series,  which  is  pre- 
serving permanently  in  American  literature  short  stories  that  have  con- 
tributed to  its  advancement." — The  Boston  Globe. 

Octave  Thanet. 

Expiation.  Illustrated  by  A.  B.  Frost.  121110,  paper,  so  cts.; 
cloth,  $1.00.  Stories  of  a  Western  Town.  121110.  Illustrated 
by  A.  B.  Frost.  $1.25. 

Octave  Thanet  has  in  this  new  book  of  Western  stories  a  completely 
fresh  field,  in  which  she  has  done  her  finest  work.  These  stories  portray 
the  types  and  conditions  of  life  in  the  thriving,  pushing  towns  of  the  great 
Central  Western  States  with  knowledge,  sympathy  and  a  fine  literary  art. 

John  T.  Wheelwright. 

A  Child  of  the  Century,     i  smo,  paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  Si.oo. 
"  A  typical  story  of  political  and  social  life,  free  from  cynicism  of  morbid 
realism,  and  brimming  over  with  fun." — The  Christian  at   Work. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on 


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